People from trans rights groups and community organisations take part in a rally outside Queen Elizabeth House, the UK Government building in Edinburgh, following the Supreme Court ruling earlier that week, April 19, 2025
THE Scottish Parliament will make access to its single-sex toilets conditional on biological sex from Monday.
After the recent Supreme Court ruling that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” the Scottish Parliament’s corporate body (SPCB) ruled that from Monday May 12, it would “provide male-only and female-only facilities as well as gender-neutral and accessible facilities.”
Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone said the interim move was to “ensure we fulfil our legal responsibilities,” adding it would offer “all individuals confidence, privacy and dignity when using our facilities.”
Three toilets in the public area will become gender-neutral.
The Scottish Trans and Equality Network branded the move “rushed, unworkable and exclusionary” in a letter to the SPCB.
Scottish Trans manager Vic Valentine said: “We cannot understand why this decision has been described as one that will bring ‘confidence, privacy and dignity’ to everyone.
“It will not do so for trans people. It will exclude us and segregate us in the heart of Scotland’s democracy.”
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