Barclays Bank looks set to ban trans women employees from using toilets that align with their gender, following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling.
Earlier this month, the UK’s top judges ruled that the protected characteristic of “sex”, under the terms of the 2010 Equality Act, referred to “biological” women and not transgender women.
Despite the ruling, trans people are still protected from discrimination under the legislation, and former jurist Dr Victoria McCloud , the UK’s only out trans judge, has vowed to challenge the judgement.
In light of the ruling, and provisional guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which has said it was now “compulsory” for workplaces to provide single-sex toilets, Barclays has said it will review its internal policy.
According to The Telegraph, the bank’s previous policy of allowing trans women to use toilets that align with their gender identity will be scrapped, leaving them to use disabled facilities or the men’s.
‘We will make any changes necessary’
Anne O’ Donoghue, a former Barclays human resources director, said at a trans rights protest at the bank’s Canary Wharf office in 2023: “I spend far too much time talking about this and why it is important. From an LGBT+ perspective, what we want to do, and we do have it in our policy, is that you can use the facilities which align to your gender identity.
“That is in our policy, that is our approach, that is what we do.”
However, a spokesperson for Barclays has now said: “We will make any changes to our practices that are necessary to ensure we are compliant with legal requirements and we are reviewing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling. We will be making any necessary changes to comply with the EHRC interim guidance.”
Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan has already been quoted as saying: “Following the Supreme Court ruling… we believe we have to comply with that by not allowing trans women to use female bathrooms.”
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