The Scottish Government has updated its guidance on toilets in schools, coming into compliance with a UK Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that decreed that biological reality must be the basis of public services.
Boys and girls at Scottish schools should now use the toilet set aside for their biological sex. The previous guidance stipulated that students “should not be made to use the toilet or changing room of their sex assigned at birth”.
The Supreme Court decision came about due to a case brought by For Women Scotland, a group who argued that women’s rights as set out in equality legislation had no meaning if there was no clear definition of the terms “man” and “woman”.
The Supreme Court ruled that those terms were determined by biology and that while accommodation should be made for trans identifiers where possible, public policy and services should work on the assumption that men are men and women are women.
While the new Scottish government guidance has been brought into compliance with the judgment, it has been criticised by The Christian Institute for its trans-affirming stance.
The Institute cited the Cass Review as evidence that encouraging or affirming a child’s belief that they are of a different sex is dangerous, particularly before the onset of puberty.
Marion Calder of For Women Scotland said her group would look at the new guidance to ensure “the Scottish Government has fully accepted the implications of the Supreme Court judgment”.
Earlier this year a Scottish court issued a court order to schools reminding them of the requirement to have an equal number of toilet facilities for boys and girls. The order was the result of a judicial review instigated by parents at a school run by Scottish Borders Council. Their son’s school was only fitted with “gender-neutral” facilities.
The parents were represented by Rosie Walker of law firm Gilson Grey. She said: “The court order makes clear that the 1967 regulations apply to all state schools in Scotland. There is no provision for gender-neutral toilets in the regulations. Any school not complying will be in breach of the regulations and could face a legal challenge from parents.”
