Sex Matters is a controversial charity that campaigns for the significance of recognising organic intercourse (versus gender) in regulation, coverage and language. The organisation doesn’t recognise transgender identities.
On April 16, the UK Supreme Court docket ruled that the authorized definition of a lady was based mostly on organic intercourse, that means {that a} transgender lady who has a gender recognition certificates wouldn’t be thought-about a lady below the Equality Act 2010.
The choice was met with controversy. “What does it imply to be a ‘organic’ lady? How are you going to show that you’re one? Who’s going to implement the dividing line?” Jolyon Maugham, founding father of The Good Law Project advised The Standard, shortly after the landmark ruling.
“The chaos – and profound hurt – this judgment will trigger is the regrettable consequence of the Supreme Court docket’s resolution to make social coverage relatively than go away these questions for Parliament.”
Nevertheless, some teams, corresponding to Intercourse Issues, applauded the ruling. In June, Intercourse Issues threatened authorized motion towards the Scottish government, stating that ministers are failing to implement the judgment in equalities regulation.
What do they wish to obtain?
Intercourse Issues recognises two sexes: feminine and male. The organisation desires to “promote readability about intercourse in regulation, coverage and language so as to defend everyone’s rights”.
In follow, this implies excluding transgender girls from sure areas, corresponding to girls’s bogs and feminine sports activities groups.
Who’re the leaders of Intercourse Issues?
Intercourse Issues was based in 2021 by coverage researcher Maya Forstater, solicitor Rebecca Bull, barrister Naomi Cunningham and biologist Dr Emma Hilton.
Maya Forstater is the CEO of Intercourse Issues. She beforehand labored as a researcher, author and advisor for assume tanks
In 2018, Forstater misplaced her job on the Centre for World Improvement (CGD) after writing a sequence of tweets that mentioned folks couldn’t change their organic intercourse.
Workers members complained and an investigation was launched. In response, Forstater tweeted: “I’ve been advised that it’s offensive to say ‘transwomen are males’ or that lady means ‘grownup human feminine’. Nevertheless, since these statements are true I’ll proceed to say them.”
Fiona McAnena, Maya Forstater, Pam Ghosal and Helen Joyce stand exterior the supreme courtroom on the day of a ruling on an attraction by For Girls Scotland on whether or not an individual with a full Gender Recognition Certificates (GRC) recognising their gender as feminine is a lady below British equality legal guidelines, in London, Britain, April 16, 2025
REUTERS
JK Rowling, who has been known as transphobic for her views on gender, tweeted in protection of Forstater.
“Gown nevertheless you please,” she mentioned. “Name your self no matter you want. Sleep with any consenting grownup who’ll have you ever. Dwell your greatest life in peace and safety. However pressure girls out of their jobs for stating that intercourse is actual? #IStandWithMaya.”
Forstater subsequently acquired a £100,000 payout for discrimination after taking the case to an employment tribunal, which discovered that Forstater’s views fell below a protected “faith or perception” within the 2010 Equality Act.
Rebecca Bull is a trustee of Intercourse Issues. She is an employment solicitor.
Naomi Cunningham is Intercourse Issues’ chair and a barrister who specialises in employment and discrimination regulation.
Dr Emma Hilton is a Intercourse Issues trustee and a developmental biologist on the College of Manchester, the place she research human genetic ailments.
Helen Joyce is the director of advocacy. Previously an govt editor at The Economist, Joyce is the creator of the gender-critical guide Trans: When Ideology Meets Actuality.
Fiona McAnena is the director of campaigns. She joined Intercourse Issues after working as a part of Honest Play For Girls, a marketing campaign that opposes trans inclusion in girls’s sports activities and prisons.
