Minister: Trans people are ‘valued’ in wake of new Equality Act guidance
A Welsh Government cabinet minister said transgender people are a “valued part of communities in Wales” and should be protected from discrimination and harassment in the wake of new guidance on single-sex spaces.
On Tuesday, Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan told the Welsh Parliament the Government was working to ensure devolved policy is legally compliant.
Last month, long-awaited guidance drafted by Britain’s rights watchdog was published and confirmed single-sex services must be on the basis of biological sex.
The updated code followed a Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 which said the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
Speaking in the Senedd, Reform MS Laura Anne Jones said: “There is nowhere to hide now, there are no more excuses.
“The Supreme Court has ruled, the guidance has been published, and the law is crystal clear.
“Can the new Welsh Government please issue an urgent statement defining what a woman is for these purposes, and give us a definitive timeline on how policies and guidance will be changed to abide by the law, so this Senedd can finally seek to protect women and girls across Wales.”
Ms Fychan, cabinet minister for culture and sport, said: “The Welsh Government respects the Supreme Court’s judgment and is assessing the implication of the judgment and the EHRC code of practice for devolved services and responsibilities in Wales.
“The judgment sets the current legal position and work is under way to ensure devolved policy and practice remain compliant.
“The Welsh Government will continue to discharge its equality duties and expects all individuals to be treated with dignity and respect.
“We will support duty bearers to implement the law fairly, consistently, and lawfully.
“But, let me be absolutely clear from the outset – this Welsh Government remains steadfast in our commitment to inclusion.
“Trans people remain a valued part of our communities in Wales and continue to be protected in law from discrimination and harassment.”
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Trans people are usually less than two percent of the population.
Even less than that. the question was fluffed in Census 2021, but previous NHS estimates said about 400,000 in the UK and that’s perhaps on the high end
So based on a population of 69.5 million that’s about 0.6%
Either way, that makes it OK to dump on people then?
Who is getting dumped on by whom?
I presume you mean trans people being dumped on by nearly everybody, yes?
Yes.
I agree with you. If it’s okay to dump on people just because there are few of them and they are inconvenient then society does not exist, there is just cruelty and nihilism.
We are supposed to help support and protect vicitmised minorities, not join in
The super rich are less than 1% of the population but many of our politicians seem to have little issue accommodating their needs…
If you ask the EHRC how the guidance applies to your particular service they tell you to seek specialist legal advice. Doesn’t exactly *sound* that clear if you need specialist lawyers to interpret it, or that they themselves aren’t confident interpreting it.
Valued in Cymru perhaps. Hated in England it would seem
Why the downvote. Trans people do seem to be hated by the English government. that’s a fact. They are safer in Wales. But it was a narrow escape in the senedd elections. Also a fact.
Trans people are normal law abiding people under constant attack by obsessed abnormal people
If anyone can read the guidance and say with certainty that a small cafe is allowed to just have two individually lockable toilets then they’re either smarter or more unduly confident than me.
Depending on what bit you read, not having single-sex toilets might discriminate against women or might be reasonable given the constraints of a building. Though this might only be allowed if it’s the *only* toilet and doubles as an accessible one.
This isn’t a complicated scenario.
They are not. One unisex toilet is fine.
So in the example I gave the cafe would have to close one of the toilets?
Which paragraph of the guidance says that what you’re saying is fine?
. messed up. Cant delete my post
Of course they are and good luck to them. The guidance (and the SC judgement) is perfectly clear. Biological women and girls have the right to their own spaces away from biological men and boys. All trans people have to do is use the facilities aligned with their biological sex or gender neutral ones. This has always been the law and it has been further clarified (almost to a ridiculous degree). All is fine.
No no no, the guidance isn’t about what trans people use, it’s about what service providers provide/permit. There’s no law that says it’s illegal for a woman to enter the men’s or the other way round. I still can’t tell for sure if having exclusively gender-neutral facilities is allowed. If so, great.
Although the guidance does also say stuff about trans men (what you’d call ‘biological women’ ugh) potentially not using the ladies either but is also vague about whether gender-neutral facilities have to be provided at all.
I am blinded by the clarity.
Trans people are not their biological sex any more though, and they are not gender neutral.
You are a segregstionist.
The SC changed the stated meaning as clarified by the author themselves. This was not always the law. the SC changed it, without hearing any trans voices, but accepted submissions from five gender critical groups.
There has been zero clarification. Just an excise to roll back human rights, humiliate demonise and segregate an innocent and vulnerable community
Good on Welsh gov,well done.