Sex Matters is a controversial charity that campaigns for the significance of recognising organic intercourse (versus gender) in regulation, coverage and language. The organisation doesn’t recognise transgender identities.
On April 16, the UK Supreme Court docket ruled that the authorized definition of a girl was primarily based on organic intercourse, that means {that a} transgender lady who has a gender recognition certificates wouldn’t be thought-about a girl underneath the Equality Act 2010.
The choice was met with controversy. “What does it imply to be a ‘organic’ lady? How are you going to show that you’re one? Who’s going to implement the dividing line?” Jolyon Maugham, founding father of The Good Law Project informed The Standard, shortly after the landmark ruling.
“The chaos – and profound hurt – this judgment will trigger is the regrettable consequence of the Supreme Court docket’s choice to make social coverage somewhat than go away these questions for Parliament.”
Nonetheless, some teams, resembling Intercourse Issues, applauded the ruling. In June, Intercourse Issues threatened authorized motion towards the Scottish government, stating that ministers are failing to implement the judgment in equalities regulation.
What do they wish to obtain?
Intercourse Issues recognises two sexes: feminine and male. The organisation needs to “promote readability about intercourse in regulation, coverage and language as a way to shield all people’s rights”.
In observe, this implies excluding transgender ladies from sure areas, resembling ladies’s bathrooms and feminine sports activities groups.
Who’re the leaders of Intercourse Issues?
Intercourse Issues was based in 2021 by coverage researcher Maya Forstater, solicitor Rebecca Bull, barrister Naomi Cunningham and biologist Dr Emma Hilton.
Maya Forstater is the CEO of Intercourse Issues. She beforehand labored as a researcher, author and advisor for suppose tanks
In 2018, Forstater misplaced her job on the Centre for World Improvement (CGD) after writing a sequence of tweets that stated individuals couldn’t change their organic intercourse.
Workers members complained and an investigation was launched. In response, Forstater tweeted: “I’ve been informed that it’s offensive to say ‘transwomen are males’ or that lady means ‘grownup human feminine’. Nonetheless, since these statements are true I’ll proceed to say them.”
Fiona McAnena, Maya Forstater, Pam Ghosal and Helen Joyce stand outdoors the supreme courtroom on the day of a ruling on an attraction by For Girls Scotland on whether or not an individual with a full Gender Recognition Certificates (GRC) recognising their gender as feminine is a girl underneath British equality legal guidelines, in London, Britain, April 16, 2025
REUTERS
JK Rowling, who has been referred to as transphobic for her views on gender, tweeted in protection of Forstater.
“Costume nevertheless you please,” she stated. “Name your self no matter you want. Sleep with any consenting grownup who’ll have you ever. Reside your greatest life in peace and safety. However power ladies out of their jobs for stating that intercourse is actual? #IStandWithMaya.”
Forstater subsequently obtained a £100,000 payout for discrimination after taking the case to an employment tribunal, which discovered that Forstater’s views fell underneath a protected “faith or perception” within the 2010 Equality Act.
Rebecca Bull is a trustee of Intercourse Issues. She is an employment solicitor.
Naomi Cunningham is Intercourse Issues’ chair and a barrister who specialises in employment and discrimination regulation.
Dr Emma Hilton is a Intercourse Issues trustee and a developmental biologist on the College of Manchester, the place she research human genetic illnesses.
Helen Joyce is the director of advocacy. Previously an government editor at The Economist, Joyce is the creator of the gender-critical ebook Trans: When Ideology Meets Actuality.
Fiona McAnena is the director of campaigns. She joined Intercourse Issues after working as a part of Truthful Play For Girls, a marketing campaign that opposes trans inclusion in ladies’s sports activities and prisons.
