Hampstead Heath ponds to remain inclusive

The High Court has refused permission to the transphobic group Sex Matters, who wanted to challenge trans inclusion at Hampstead Heath ponds.

This decision is a major setback for Sex Matters, which raised more than £65,000 to try and force the pond to ban trans people, trying to go against regular swimmers. More than 32,000 people said they wanted the ponds to remain trans inclusive – 86% of the respondents to the consultation by the City of London, published today. This followed previous votes overwhelmingly supporting trans pond users, and a petition with over 14,000 signatures asking to keep the ponds inclusive.

Sex Matters were refused permission on the basis that their challenge was premature, given the ongoing consultation.

Sex Matters argued that trans people must now be banned from gendered spaces and services, like the Hampstead Heath ponds. But this is just not true. We are challenging the definition in a judicial review of the EHRC’s interim guidance. The women and equalities minister also disagreed with Sex Matters’s interpretation, as have two recent employment tribunal decisions.

The court’s decision will come as a relief to tens of thousands who campaigned to keep the pond inclusive, as well as the many people – both cis and trans – who swim regularly in the ponds.

For Good Law Project’s trans rights lead, Jess O’Thomson, “Despite their supposed victory in the Supreme Court last April, anti-trans campaigners like Sex Matters have encountered failure after failure in their attempts to use the law to bully trans people out of public life. The reason for that is clear – as the overwhelming support for trans inclusion in the City of London’s consultation shows, people in this country want to be inclusive, and trans people have been welcomed in these spaces for decades.”

If Sex Matters tries to bring another challenge, we’re ready to fight back.