While attacks against trans people are increasing worldwide, the
offensive has been particularly strong in recent years in the UnitedKingdom. But a new level of transphobia and transmisogyny was reached
following a Supreme Court decision last April. On April 16, 2025, the
British Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the definition of woman in
the Equality Act 2010 referred only to "biological women," in other
words, not to trans women. This decision followed a dispute between the
association For Women Scotland. The Scottish government had issued
guidelines clarifying that the legal term "women" included trans women
who had obtained a change of their sex designation on their civil
status. The transphobic association benefits from the support of the
well-established TERF movement[1]in Great Britain, and notably from
author J.K. Rowling, who donated the equivalent of EUR80,000 to carry
out their legal campaign.
While the judges were quick to affirm that trans women remained
protected from discrimination, the Supreme Court's ruling effectively
calls into question trans women's access to single-sex spaces such as
restrooms, changing rooms, and even shelters for victims of domestic
violence.
A widespread reactionary offensive
The institution has extended its reasoning to workplaces, sports
activities, and even hospitals-with the dual consequence of creating a
constant climate of threat over trans people and giving a new lease on
life to the transphobic attacks they may be targeted. These attacks were
not long in coming.
Thus, the English Football Association (FA) has decided to ban trans
women from competitions starting June 1, 2025. Others will follow suit,
leading to greater ostracization of trans people, even though sport is
an important means of socialization. The argument of fairness towards
cisgender women is being exploited and does not hold water: the
performances of trans players on hormones do not suggest that they would
benefit from a particular physical advantage over cis women... It must
be said that, by the FA's own admission, only about twenty trans players
are affected.
And then there are the everyday attacks, for example, accusations of
using the "wrong restroom," which are on the rise in the United Kingdom
and the United States. These attacks regularly target cis women whose
appearance is not considered feminine enough. These phenomena of
"transvestigation"[2]should not be understood as an attack solely on
trans people, but more broadly as the consequence of a reactionary
attempt to maintain control over our lives and bodies so that they
conform to patriarchal gender stereotypes.
Following the Supreme Court's decision, a legal challenge was filed with
the European Court of Human Rights. But we would be wrong to trust
judicial institutions imbued with cis-heteronormative thinking. To
counter the current reactionary offensive supported by billionaires who
exploit the rights of cis women to defend their class interests, we must
attack the evil at its root and build a massive alliance that
encompasses (among other things) anti-patriarchal and anti-capitalist
struggles.
Sano (UCL Marseille) and Johanna (UCL Finistère)
Confirm
[1]"Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists" is a reactionary transphobic
movement that historically emerged from certain feminist movements.
[2]A popular practice in far-right circles that consists of asking
whether a person is trans, generally based on physical criteria.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Royaume-Uni-La-justice-britannique-en-phase-avec-les-lobbys-transphobes
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