TUC Congress backs motion opposing EHRC guidance and calls for gender self-ID

Unions have backed calls to campaign for gender ‘self ID’ and for a change in “discriminatory and unworkable” guidance around transgender rights.

The motion, put forward from the TUC’s LGBT+ Conference, condemned updated guidance on single sex provisions from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, following a Supreme Court judgement on the definition of ‘woman’, as “effectively excluding trans people from swathes of public life, including working life”.

The motion accused the Code of Practice provided by the EHRC of eroding protections under the under the Equality Act and Gender Recognition Act.

It called on the TUC to campaign to introduce a process of gender self-declaration, for affiliates to challenge exclusionary guidance more widely, and work with LGBT+ organisations to challenge the Code specifically.

The motion read: “Trans rights are human rights: conference calls on all affiliates to publicly, actively defend this without compromise.”

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Maria Exall of the CWU, which moved the motion, said the Code undermined inclusive workplaces – and stressed that trans rights and women’s rights are not contradictory.

“The EHRC guidance is unworkable. It is absurd, and it is cruel. The current guidance for service provision is thoroughly impractical, and if they issue guidance for the workplace on that basis, it will be too.

“It will be a licence for those who wish to undermine inclusive workplaces and union organisation for equality.

“This is a human rights issue; it’s about supporting trans lives.”

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Assistant general secretary of the TUC Kate Bell echoed Exall’s view and said: “The EHRC Code of Practice risks excluding workers, particularly trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming workers from large parts of working life, and it puts them at higher risk of discrimination, humiliation and denial of services.

“As Congress has repeatedly affirmed, all trans identity should be believed and respected – and for all social purposes, trans women should be treated as women, and trans men treated as men.

“While challenging this guidance, the TUC will comply with the law, and make sure trans people are represented meaningfully.”

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