Nearly 100,000 women have signed an open letter rejecting the exclusion of transgender people in their name, one year after a UK Supreme Court ruling defined 'woman' and 'man' in the Equality Act as biological sex. The letter, organised by the collective Not In Our Name (NION), was launched in response to the April 2025 ruling, which trans activists warned would lead to increased discrimination.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the term 'woman' in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex, following an appeal by the gender-critical group For Women Scotland. The group had argued that sex-based protections should apply only to people born female. Trans charities expressed concern that the ruling would harm the trans community, and a new report, the 2025 Trans Segregation in Practice report, has documented instances of exclusion.
The report includes testimonies from individuals who report feeling unsafe in gendered spaces. Approximately 53% of trans respondents and 17% of cis respondents said they had been stopped, questioned, or harassed while entering a gendered space in the UK. Helen Belcher, director of TransActual, said: 'The Supreme Court ruling last year turned tens of thousands of trans people's lives upside down. There is no longer any clarity over where people can do basic things that enable them to participate in public life, such as use public toilets or changing rooms.'
Not In Our Name was founded by women who rejected the narrative that the ruling was a 'win' for cis women. The collective's open letter, which has nearly 100,000 signatures, 'completely and categorically reject[s] the active discrimination and exclusion of trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people in the name of cisgendered women'. The letter has been supported by figures including Carla Denyer MP, Kate Nash, Beverley Knight, Denise Welch, Kate Osborne MP, David Tennant, and Zack Polanski.
