Email - tim.roca.mp@parliament.uk

SUBJECT - EHRC Guidance

I am writing with regard to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's updated Code of Practice, published 21st May 2026, under the 2010 Equality Act. If sufficient MPs do not object within 40 days of publication, the Code will become law.

The Code adopts a 'biological sex' definition, restricting sex to that assigned at birth. In practice, this means trans people - even those holding a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) - would be barred from facilities appropriate to their gender. Trans women would be directed to male or separate facilities; trans men to female or separate facilities. The Code only suggests, rather than mandates, the provision of unisex alternatives, leaving trans people with no guaranteed option.

The logistics of enforcing this are deeply troubling. How exactly would venues police 'biological sex' without invasive medical or physical checks, or without crossing significant legal boundaries? In practice, enforcement would inevitably lead to the harassment of cisgender people falsely suspected of being trans. This is not a workable policy.

There is also a serious legal conflict here. Determining who holds a GRC constitutes a privacy offence under Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which assumes GRC holders will ordinarily be treated in accordance with their acquired sex. This Code directly contradicts that assumption.

Trans people represent just 0.5% of the population in England and Wales, according to the 2021 census, and have been using appropriate facilities for decades without issue. This Code is already causing significant anxiety among trans and non-binary people, and the uncertainty it creates has real consequences for their daily lives. The disproportionate focus on this tiny minority is causing real harm. The Rainbow Map, which ranks 49 European countries on LGBTI human rights protections, shows the UK's ranking falling - and the growing sense that we are becoming a trans-hostile nation is borne out by the data. Institutional hostility of this kind emboldens anti-trans rhetoric more broadly, with measurable consequences for the wellbeing of trans people and non-binary people alike.

I urge you to object to this Code in Parliament and to speak out against it.