Open letter: Scottish Parliament urged to change its transphobic toilet rules

Dear Presiding Officer,

We, the undersigned, write to express deep concern and profound disappointment regarding the interim position of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) on the use of facilities at the Scottish Parliament following the recent Supreme Court ruling which we strongly believe, (as per recent legal advice sought by the Good Law Project) misinterprets the judgment.

That advice can be seen here.

You will have observed that Lord Sumption, former Supreme Court judge, spoke out about what he understood to be the misinterpretation of the judgement. He said that, “contrary to much of the commentary on the Supreme Court Ruling, judges did not take a side and not provide an obligation to create single sex spaces.” He continues, “That’s the main point, which I think has been misunderstood about this judgement. I think it’s quite important to note that you are allowed to exclude trans women from these facilities but you are not obliged to.”

As we all know staff often use the publicly available facilities and vice versa in the Scottish Parliament building. Additionally, those visiting parliament for meetings or events often use facilities designated for or in the staff areas once they have been signed in by a pass holder. Such is the design of the Parliament building and the way the space is used.

Workplace regulations of course state that employers must provide single sex toilets unless there are enough separate lockable rooms. The question then is how you distinguish between ‘male’ and ‘female’ for the facilities in areas used exclusively by staff.

The designation suggested in the guidance issued is that male and female spaces will be applied “by biological sex”. We would argue that the application and of this is not only deeply invasive – it raises immediate questions about enforcement. We ask, non-rhetorically, on what basis are staff expected to prove their sex to use a toilet? And what steps have you, as an organisation, taken to prepare for a situation where individuals may be challenged, questioned or policed while trying to access basic facilities?

Your approach signals to trans people that they are not trusted to navigate these questions themselves. It risks exposing them, and anyone who may be gender non-conforming to humiliation, harassment or worse- all under the guise of “clarity”. Where is the evidence that justifies this stance? Especially given Lord Sumption’s comments and intervention. Where is the protection for them in this model? What safeguards will be put in place to ensure they are not targeted or harmed?

This decision affects real people, not abstract categories. We strongly urge the SPCB to engage directly with the trans community, all parliamentary staff, MSPs and those employed by the Corporate Body to conduct a full and transparent Equality Impact Assessment, and to clarify exactly how it intends to uphold the protections against discrimination that this ruling potentially exacerbates. We would also appreciate some clarity and answers to these questions;

1. The update paper states that the Deputy Chief Exec worked with an advisory group to develop the new policy; was any trans person or organisation with experience of trans people’s human rights included on this advisory group, or consulted by it? 
2. The Equality Impact Assessment published alongside the policy does not address the risk of harmful impacts on all building users from the normalisation of challenges to people’s perceived gender when using facilities; why has this negative impact been ignored? 
3. Will the SPCB quickly respond to the letter from Scottish Trans and the Equality Network, and will the reply be published? Finally, to alienate or risk excluding any community from their national Parliament flies in the face of the values of inclusiveness and respect that the Scottish Parliament stands for and promotes on its own website.

We look forward to your response, 

cc: David McGill, Chief Executive of the Scottish Parliament

MSPs

Keith Brown, SNP MSP, Depute Leader of the SNP and Former Cabinet Secretary
Joe Fitzpatrick, SNP MSP and Former Scottish Government Minister
Emma Roddick, SNP MSP and Former Scottish Government Minister
Elena Whitham, SNP MSP and Former Scottish Government Minister
Evelyn Tweed, SNP MSP
Collette Stevenson, SNP MSP
Fulton McGregor, SNP MSP

Alex Cole-Hamilton, Lib Dem MSP and Leader of The Scottish Liberal Democrats
Jamie Greene, Lib Dem MSP

Lorna Slater, Green MSP and Co-Leader of The Scottish Green Party
Patrick Harvie, Green MSP and Co-Leader of The Scottish Green Party
Gillian Mackay, Green MSP
Ross Greer, Green MSP
Ariane Burgess, Green MSP
Mark Ruskell, Green MSP
Maggie Chapman, Green MSP

Monica Lennon, Labour MSP
Mercedes Villalba, Labour MSP

Staff

Lorna Finn, staff & former National Secretary of the SNP
Lauren Toner
Nikita Bassi
Declan Blench
Kimberley Blythe, staff member and Scottish comedian
Christina Cannon
Paul Leinster
Alasdair MacDougall
Bryony Lovatt
Nix Prahbu
Kim Long
Cameron Glasgow
Niamh Roberts
Jenny Smith
Tanya Jones
Kayleigh O’Neill
Paul Daly
Em Calam
Gordon Crawford
Vhairi Tollan
Blair Anderson
Jen Scotney
Lorna Gledhill
Lauren Dick
Dylan Hamilton
Holly Bruce
Iona Brown
Ryan Blackadder
Caitlin Burgess
Alasdair MacDougall
Bryony Lovatt

If you would like to add your voice to this campaign, you can send your own version of this letter to the Presiding Officer with our straightforward tool.