The long-running legal challenge was brought by the For Women Scotland campaign group — who argue sex is biological, binary and can’t be changed — against the Scottish government.
The case dates back to 2018 when the Scottish administration, led by then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, passed legislation to establish gender quotas to get more women serving on public boards.
It was eventually amended to count trans women with gender recognition certificates, confirming their female gender, as women for the purposes of the legislation.
Scottish courts ruled, and then upheld in the Scottish government’s favor, that sex is “not limited to biological or birth sex,” and must include those in possession of a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
But that was challenged in London’s Supreme Court by campaigners. And, in its ruling Wednesday, the country’s highest court said the meaning of the terms “sex,” “man” and “woman” in the U.K.’s Equality Act must refer to “biological sex” — with any other interpretation deemed “incoherent and impracticable.”
The summary of the court ruling read: “Therefore, a person with a Gender Recognition Certificate in the female gender does not come within the definition of a ‘woman’ under the Equality Act 2010 and the statutory guidance issued by the Scottish ministers is incorrect.”