UPDATE: |Thousands gather in ’emergency’ protest led by trans rights groups over UK Supreme Court ruling News

Trans rights activists have taken to the streets of London for an ’emergency protest’ just days after a landmark gender court ruling

Thousands of protesters have gathered in London in an ’emergency demonstration’ in support of transgender rights after a Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman.

On Wednesday (April 16), the UK’s top court ruled the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

The government said the unanimous decision by five judges at the Supreme Court brought ‘clarity and confidence’ for women and service providers. However, trans activists have said the decision is ‘unacceptable’.

Trans rights groups, trade unions and community organisations gathered in Parliament Square in central London on Saturday (April 19), demanding ‘trans liberation’ and ‘trans rights now’.

The Supreme Court confirmed the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act ‘refer to a biological woman and biological sex’ after a legal dispute between the Scottish government and the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) dating back to 2018.

The Equality Act is a law which protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.

The decision means transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if ‘proportionate’ and that trans women cannot use single-sex female toilets, changing rooms or compete in women’s sports, according to the head of Britain’s equalities watchdog.

The ruling could also change the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which rules that those with a GRC have the legal right to live in their acquired gender. This could affect what legal rights trans women have as women.

Among the groups supporting the London protest are Trans Kids Deserve Better, Pride in Labour, the Front for the Liberation of Intersex Non-binary and Transgender people (Flint) and TransActual.

Avery Greatorex, co-chair of Pride in Labour, told the PA news agency: “Not a single trans person or trans organisation was represented in that case, and so we weren’t given an opportunity to have a seat at the table which is obviously a very concerning thing for our community when decisions are being made without us.

“So the protest was organised to put pressure on the government, on the public to act. To be able to secure the rights of transgender people and to secure those protections, we need legislative power and we need lobbying power.”

Protesters in central London waved flags and held banners as they marched past St James’s Park. Graffiti left on statues in Parliament Square reads ‘trans rights are human rights’.

A rally and march organised by Resisting Transphobia will also take place in Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon.

It follows a number of trans rights marches that took place across the UK on Friday (April 18), including in Manchester city centre. Hundreds took to St Peter’s Square in an impromptu march, with protesters dubbing the ruling a ‘frightening’ moment for trans people and the wider LGBTQ+ community.