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?
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
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.