My thoughts on the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers

As a gay man, I have often said I stand on the shoulders of giants. And I do. Giants who were queer, black, trans, loud, unapologetic. Giants like Marsha P. Johnson. Giants who made space for me to be here. To exist. To live openly. To walk down the street holding hands with someone I love (although even that doesn't feel safe anymore). To have some kind of legal protection, however fragile, in a country that only decades ago criminalised my very being.

Which is why the Supreme Court's decision in For Women Scotland has shaken me to my core. Not just because of the legal implications, but because of what it says about who we are as a society. About whose lives and identities we’re willing to erase. About how much silence our highest judges are willing to accept in a case that directly impacts thousands of people - without letting a single one of them be heard.

Let’s be clear: this judgment isn’t just legally incoherent. It’s morally bankrupt. It’s devastating. And it’s shameful.

The Court Refused to Hear Trans Voices

In a case that directly affects trans people - their identities, protections, and participation in public life - the Supreme Court refused interventions from trans groups, LGBTQ+ equality bodies, medical experts, and intersex people. It refused to hear from the very people whose lives would be most affected by the outcome. That silence wasn’t neutral. It was structural exclusion.

The Court allowed itself to be a mouthpiece for reductive, binary framings of sex - while keeping out the people who could have explained why this view was not only outdated, but actively harmful.

This is not legal integrity. This is cowardice wrapped in procedure.

Intersex People: Nowhere To Be Seen

There was no mention of intersex people in the judgment. Not even in passing. The implication? That sex is binary, permanent, knowable, and enforceable. But intersex people exist. They always have. And they, too, deserve dignity. They deserve legal protection. They deserve not to be reduced to a judicial afterthought.

The judgment’s refusal to engage with any biological, medical or social science - and its total silence on intersex realities - effectively erases those individuals from the Equality Act. That is a chilling and dangerous precedent.

The Myth of "Biological Sex"

Let’s talk about the phrase “biological sex,” because the Supreme Court sure didn’t. It used the term dozens of times without once defining it.

Is it chromosomes? Hormones? External anatomy? Reproductive capacity? Legal registration at birth? The truth is: biology is messy. And law that claims to be grounded in science while refusing to define its own terms is law that’s just hiding behind cultural panic.

The judgment doesn’t reflect a careful, evidence-based approach. It reflects a panic - a discomfort with gender diversity dressed up as statutory interpretation.

I Am Ashamed

I am ashamed. Ashamed of our judiciary. Ashamed of the politicians cheering this decision on. Ashamed that JK Rowling, once a beloved writer (I am guilty of funding this horror show and I will regret that until this situation is changed, and it will be), is now tweeting victory dances over a ruling that strips her fellow women of recognition and safety.

I’m ashamed of Rosie Duffield’s interview on LBC, where she played the victim while platforming misinformation and anti-trans tropes.

And I am especially ashamed of Wes Streeting - the man who is our Health Secretary - for endorsing a report that is pushing trans children further into fear, isolation, and suicide, I say that, because trans kids have and are currently planning to take thier own lives, their blood is on his hands, whats worse is he is a gay man stamping on the youngest and most vulnerable members of our community. The Cass Report has already been condemned by trans organisations and healthcare providers for its flawed methodology, bias, and political aims, Hilary Cass should not have been asked to write the report, and I say that having personally experienced her. Using it as a platform to restrict care is not evidence-based medicine. It is state-sponsored cruelty.

To Every Trans, Non-Binary, and Intersex Person Reading This:

You are real. You are valid. You are not the problem.

You are not a debate. You are not a threat. You are not an inconvenience.

You are people. And the rest of our community stands with you.

Your existence is not up for negotiation. Your rights should not be held hostage to cultural backlash. And your dignity is not a political football.

You deserve better than this court. Better than this government. Better than being sidelined, dismissed, or silenced.

We see you. We love you. We fight for you.

I see you. I love you. I will fight for you.

And we will not stop.

This post is not legal advice. It is something more important: solidarity.