A human rights expert just confirmed the truth about being trans in Britain

‘The UK Supreme Court judgment could lead to widespread exclusion of trans people from many public spaces. This, in turn, may severely infringe on their ability to participate fully and equally in society.’

This is what Michael O’Flaherty, Human Rights Commissioner at the Council of Europe, has just warned – that the UK’s treatment of trans people could breach the European Convention on Human Rights (EHRC).

And honestly, it’s about time someone with authority and actual expertise made it clear.

Following a visit to the UK, O’Flaherty has written to the Government to raise concerns over the EHRC’s latest guidance, which will reportedly recommend that public spaces like toilets and changing rooms exclude trans people, and force them to use facilities based on ‘biological sex’.

In diplomatic language, he reminded ministers of something painfully simple: trans people like me have the same right to dignity, safety, and personal development as everyone else.

He urged the Government to ensure that inclusion, not exclusion, is the guiding principle and that trans people – even those without legal recognition – should be treated with basic respect.

It’s a rare moment of clarity amid the chaos the UK has created for itself.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that only cisgender women can be protected under the characteristic of ‘sex’ in the Equality Act – a decision that I believe the judges naively claimed wouldn’t affect trans people’s legal rights.

But almost immediately, the EHRC pounced on the judgement as an excuse to tell service providers they could start barring trans people from single-sex spaces and gendered facilities.

And to no one’s surprise – at least those who hold any amount of common sense anymore – we have human rights officials warning that the UK may now ‘severely infringe’ on trans people’s lives.

The same UK that once prided itself on leading LGBTQ+ equality now feels comparable to Trump-era America and Putin’s Russia.

As a trans woman, none of this surprises me.

I, along with countless campaigners, have been warning for years that this is where we were heading – and how this so-called ‘bathroom ban’ is unworkable and deeply harmful. It forces trans people to effectively ‘out’ themselves every time they use a public facility in order to ‘follow the law’ – and to ultimately choose between risk and illegality.

Everyday activities like going to a public bathroom or going swimming with your friends has suddenly become an area riddled with anxiety, uncertainty and risk.

Think about what that actually looks like in practice: Should we carry identity papers to take a wee? Are there going to be ‘gender inspectors’ at the gym changing rooms? Are we going to ask people for a chromosome test?

It’s ridiculous and far more invasive than simply letting people use the facilities that match their gender identity. And, if you ask me, it will undoubtedly affect far more cisgender people who are gender non-conforming than it ever will trans people – we make up less than 1% of the population, after all.

The EHRC’s guidance has already had real-world fallout, too.

A gym my partner goes to, for instance, recently sent out new policies stating that trans people must use facilities based on their ‘biological sex’. Under these new rules, he’s meant to walk into the women’s changing room, despite looking no different to other men.

It goes without saying that policies like this create more problems than they allegedly aim to solve – and if people are concerned ‘men can enter women’s facilities’ it will surely be easier for them to claim to be trans men than trans women.

I don’t know if any trans people have actually followed this policy in protest, but I think it’s only a matter of time until a cisgender woman complains about a trans man using their facilities. And that begs the question: where do they go then? The only answer is nowhere at all.

Likewise, my right to access facilities I have used since I was a teenager is suddenly under question in the UK.

Before, using public facilities has never been an issue. I’d go to the women’s bathroom, wash my hands, and get on with my day. Nobody cared.

Now, even the most mundane parts of my daily life have been turned into a potential flashpoint. 

It means that my ability to safely use places like Hampstead Women’s Pond – which I have used several times, but is under pressure to ban trans women – could be no more.

I even find myself worrying about what happens if someone recognises me and decides to challenge me? What if they think ‘the law’ gives them permission to do so?

I also can’t help but notice that this is in stark difference to Iceland, where I’m from, where my right to use facilities is protected without issue. Yet in the UK, which I now call home, I am subject to rules that create risk and conflict, where gender policing threatens to plunge us into chaos. 

Ultimately, this isn’t about safety at all – because it certainly doesn’t make trans people or anyone else safer. It’s about control.

It’s about making trans people’s lives so uncomfortable that we disappear from public life, from gyms, workplaces, and public spaces altogether. It’s a way to tell us that we are not welcome in society.

Because what exactly is the role of our so-called Equality and Human Rights Commission, if not to protect the rights and dignity of vulnerable groups?

How can any self-respecting institution go so against the core values it holds? How can those running it not see how absurd this is? We should be fighting for inclusion, not exclusion.

O’Flaherty’s statement is a reminder that the rest of the world is watching – and that the UK’s slide into what I can only describe as state-sanctioned discrimination isn’t going unnoticed. 

Because here’s the truth: this so-called ‘bathroom ban’ won’t protect anyone. It will only breed suspicion, hostility, and humiliation. And all of it could have been avoided if the people in power had chosen empathy over ideology.

At the end of the day, trans people are just trying to live our lives – to exist in peace, use the loo, and get on with our day like everyone else. Is that really so threatening?

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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