Hampstead women’s pond: No decision on challenge to trans inclusion

The High Court has heard arguments from Sex Matters, but hasn’t yet reached a decision on whether the anti-trans campaign group can continue its challenge to trans inclusion at Hampstead women’s pond.

If Sex Matters wins a challenge, it would force the pond to ban trans women – even though people who swim in the pond have already voted overwhelmingly to remain inclusive. The group is also seeking to ban trans men from using the men’s pond.

Sex Matters argues that a ban is required following the Supreme Court decision on the definition of sex under the Equality Act. But Good Law Project is challenging this interpretation of the law in a judicial review of the EHRC’s interim guidance. The women and equalities minister also disagreed with Sex Matters’s interpretation (PDF), as have two recent employment tribunal decisions.

Over 14,000 people have spoken out against this transphobic attempt to push trans people out of spaces where they have always belonged. And Good Law Project is already in contact with people who swim regularly in the ponds and feel strongly that they should remain trans inclusive. If Sex Matters gets permission to challenge this policy, we will apply to intervene so that those voices are heard in court.

For Good Law Project’s senior solicitor, Cat Knight, people who swim in the pond “could not have been more clear that trans women are women and they want the women’s pond to be a trans inclusive space”.

“These women are from a range of backgrounds,” Knight said, “but they all told me that the inclusive nature of the pond makes them feel safe and provides a haven for women away from the male gaze. Why are we not listening to the women this actually impacts?

“I have spent much of my career tackling violence against women and girls, and – like the women who use this pond – I know that it is cis male violence that poses a threat to women’s safety, not trans inclusion.”