Britain publishes 350-page guide on trans rights after court redefines sex

The UK government's new equality code tells organisations how to treat transgender people now that the law says sex means biological sex.

Told by Claire Lawson · 21 September 2026

In May, Britain published nearly 350 pages of draft guidance on how organisations should treat transgender people, more than a year after the country's highest court decided that for the purposes of equality law, sex means the sex you were assigned at birth.

The draft Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations was laid in Parliament by Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities, on 21 May 2026. It updates the 2011 code to reflect what the Supreme Court said in 2025: that under the Equality Act 2010, sex means biological sex. Trans people are still protected — but under a different characteristic called gender reassignment, not sex.

The government's language is careful. The draft Code, it says, "supports providers in ensuring they can make practical, and ultimately sensible decisions for every day scenarios, such as toilet provision." Practical. Sensible. Everyday.

Here is what that means if you are a trans person walking into a public building: someone now has clear, government-endorsed guidance on whether you belong in the bathroom you need to use. The code tells organisations how to be "pragmatic" about your existence.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission consulted with "a range of services" before publishing the draft. The government says it is proud of the Equality Act and will protect and uphold it. The Act now protects you under gender reassignment, which is not the same as being protected under sex, and the difference matters when a service provider is deciding whether to let you in.

The 350 pages cover all nine protected characteristics in the Act — age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. There are updates on menopause, same-sex marriage, breastfeeding and harassment. The section on sex and gender reassignment has been rewritten to match what the Supreme Court said.

Organisations are told to "continue to follow the law as clarified by the Supreme Court, taking specialist legal advice if needed." If you run a venue, a clinic, a school, a shop, you now have nearly 350 pages of "clear, workable guidance" on how to treat the trans people who walk through your door.

The code is a draft. It has been laid in Parliament but not yet approved. When it is, it becomes the official interpretation of how equality law works in England, Scotland and Wales — the document organisations point to when they make a decision about you.

Correction, 27 September 2026: the draft code was laid in Parliament on 21 May 2026, more than a year after the Supreme Court ruling, not eight months.