Trans women are to be banned from using female-only facilities in the Scottish Parliament from next week after the Supreme Court ruled that they are not women.
Holyrood’s ruling corporate body announced that access to all single-sex facilities in the parliament would be determined by biological sex from Monday.
Alison Johnstone, the presiding officer, said extra gender-neutral facilities would be made available, including showering and changing spaces.
With the court ruling in effect now, she said it was important to act “not only to ensure we fulfil our legal responsibilities but to give clarity to all those using the building”.
The Tories and feminist campaigners welcomed the move but said John Swinney, the First Minister, now had no excuse for dragging his heels on implementing the ruling in the rest of Scotland’s public sector.
Swathes of state-funded bodies, including the Scottish Government, NHS boards and councils, allow biological men self-identifying as women to use female facilities.
Experts have warned these practices will have to be scrapped following the Supreme Court’s ruling that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, and does not include trans women.
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