I don’t care what Supreme Court judges say – I’ll always be a woman

I believe today was the day that transgender rights in the UK died.

I’m writing this just minutes after pulling over in the car, numb in shock, to listen to a UK Supreme Court Judge effectively strip me of my rights as a woman under the Equality Act. 

The UK’s top legal authority ruled this morning that the legal definition of a woman in the UK under the 2010 legislation does not include transgender women – even those like me who hold gender recognition certificates (GRC). 

For Women Scotland – a ‘Women’s Rights’ group that many consider an anti-trans organisation, won their final appeal against the Scottish Government.

Having already been defeated in lower courts, most of the trans community assumed the verdict would be the same today. 

Sadly not.

In their ruling, the judges insisted that their interpretation ‘does not remove protection from trans people, with or without a GRC.’

Well frankly I don’t believe that. Telling me, and others like me, that we are not women is a historical injustice and the celebrations of anti-trans voices today prove to me that I am losing protections. 

My heart is broken. 

It’s going to take a day or so for me and the rest of the UK trans population to understand the full repercussions of what happens next, but make no mistake – this will embolden anti-trans voices who want the complete destruction of our rights.

This ruling will, in our eyes, inevitably usher in an even harsher era of state-sponsored degradation, stigmatisation and bullying.

I think it’s important to note that not a single trans person was represented during the legal arguments in this case. But ‘gender critical’ groups like Sex Matters and the LGB Alliance were allowed to intervene. 

Likewise, the Equality and Human Rights commission, which many trans people believe has been unduly influenced by gender-critical voices. 

Not represented, but looming over all of this controversy, is JK Rowling, one of the most prominent voices in support of this legal challenge, who donated £70,000 to For Women Scotland’s legal fees. 

I’m sure the author is very happy today but she has inflicted pain on me and others.

She’s already retweeted celebrations about the decision, and has shared her ‘pride’ at the women behind it.

Rowling claims it will protect the rights of women and girls. 

Well I’m a woman, and this removes my protections. 

Today’s decision will have zero impact on the number of women raped or sexually assaulted.

It doesn’t make women safer. In fact, I believe more women, especially those who don’t have a typical feminine appearance – will now face increased aggression from emboldened bullies accusing them of being trans.

The judgment talks about the ‘practical problems’ that would arise if they rejected this appeal, and say that allowing people like me to be legally considered women would ‘render the Equality Act incoherent and impracticable.’

My identity certainly doesn’t feel incoherent to me.

It’s all so horrible and utterly degrading, and I really cannot believe that this is happening in the UK in 2025. It’s a nightmare for trans people, who have been left unsure of where they stand in law. 

I predict today will be looked back on as merely the removal of the first domino that makes the few other pieces of legal recognition and protections we have collapse. 

Most notably the Gender Recognition Act, in place since 2004, which is now effectively rendered meaningless and is already a target for right-wing voices. 

As expected, those voices, like Kemi Badenoch, are out in force today, with the Tory leader writing ‘Hallelujah’ following this attack on my rights. 

But compounding all of this is the fact that Labour – once a party that stood up for the vulnerable and disadvantaged – deliberately sat back and did nothing.Today, they welcomed the ‘clarity’ of the ruling, when they should have trans peoples’ backs. 

I genuinely think it might take 100 years or more for my community to recover from this.

It is an historical injustice as big as anything this country has ever seen.

I believe this case was built on lies and fear-mongering, powered by an incredibly well-connected hate movement that has used ‘Women’s Rights’ as a disguise to exclude trans people from spaces we use. 

Trans people have no money, no representation and no powerful allies.

Already our options seem limited as the Scottish Government has ‘accepted’ the ruling. 

But I will never allow any politician, any judge, any millionaire author, to change this fact. 

I have always been a woman – and I will always be a woman. I had to fight for it, and nobody will ever take that away from me.

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

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