A vote that mostly echoed the law got an overwhelming No: members backed excluding trans women from women's toilets and changing rooms, and many treated the Supreme Court ruling as having ended the argument.
The most-respected No case was the most careful one. It said the point was not that every trans person means harm, but that opening female spaces removes a mechanism of deterrence. Others were blunter. One voter said “The law is right (and abundantly clear on this point)”, while another said “Women are not here to affirm an identity”. The register ran from firm to scornful.
The most-respected Yes case came from a voter who argued that trans people are a tiny share of the population and have used matching facilities quietly for a long time. Assault in a bathroom is a crime whoever commits it, they said. Others on the Yes side called it “culture war nonsense designed to deflect attention”, and one said “Trans women have been using women's facilities for decades without a problem”.
The sharper divide ran over whether the problem is real. No voters spoke of safety, privacy and hard-won rights. Yes voters spoke of proportion and of the harassment trans people face. Yet a compromise surfaced on both sides: one No voter who had changed their mind, and one Yes voter, each backed dedicated private or gender-neutral provision, which echoes the EHRC code's call for other provision.
The debate ended where the law now stands, with women's safety and dignity argued against a small minority's everyday use of the same rooms.
319 Opinions
The core of this argument is not that every transgender individual possesses malicious intent, but rather that dismantling single-sex boundaries compromises the integrity of these protective barriers. Opening female spaces to anyone who identifies as a woman removes a vital mechanism of deterrence. It prevents women from questioning the presence of a male in a private area, creating vulnerabilities that bad actors can exploit to gain access to vulnerable women and girls
I’m stunned that 30% so far think they should. Everyone deserves dignity, but that means women too. Women are not here to affirm an identity, act as a cheerleader, coddle anyone’s identity, or act as a human shield. Shouldn’t men be more accommodating of other men? Edited
No. The law is right (and abundantly clear on this point). Women and girls require single sex spaces for their safety, dignity and equality. The left’s misogynistic attempt to roll back the hard won fruits of feminism are disgusting and perverse.
Trans people make up around 0.5% of the UK population, by recent census data. We have used the gendered facilities that match our "acquired gender" since time began, quietly and unnoticed. No one should be assaulted, or harassed while using the bathroom or changing room. That is illegal. It doesn't matter who does it, that's a crime. In 2024, less than 3% of reported rapes were prosecuted. Maybe focusing on that, rather than people needing a wee, would protect women better.
Transwomen are biologically men.
There is now a settled position. Biological sex determines the matter - and keeps women safe.
If you allow a man to identify as a woman, all protections for women cease to exist (as the Equality Act and Supreme Court judgement make clear). Women need safe spaces, fair sport and equality before the law. Men are welcome to identify as women and should not face discrimination as a result, but saying you are a woman does not make you a woman or grant you access to women's spaces.
Trans women are men. Use the gents lads and leave the ladies in peace.
Transwomen are men. Men who commit crime at the same level of other men, and seem to commit higher level of sexual offences, according to home office figures. The vast majority of them still have a penis. Women fought for private spaces for good reasons, involving the bad behaviour of men, and deserve to keep them. Good men stay out so that the bad men stand out. Woman is not a costume or hormones.
Why is this still even being debated. Blokes in frocks have no place in women's bathrooms. Period.