165 MPs have signed a motion to reject the EHRC transphobic Code of Practice

The Early Day Motion to reject the Equality and Human Rights Commissions (EHRC) transphobic Code of Practice has now hit 165 signatures. As such, the motion’s author — Nottingham East Labour MP Nadia Whittome — has called for equalities minister Bridget Phillipson to withdraw the code.

The milestone means that over a quarter of all MPs have now signed the forlorn-hope statement. However, time is now running desperately short, as Whittome explained on social media on 8 July:

The scrutiny period for the EHRC’s draft Code of Practice ends this week. This Code will enforce trans people’s segregation, out them to others, and put them at increased risk of harassment, abuse and violence.

Despite more than 1 in 4 MPs signing my motion against the Code, it is due to come into force without any debate or vote in Parliament.

I have written to the Minister of Women and Equalities urging her to withdraw it now.

Political opposition to EHRC code mounts

The letter to Phillipson stated that:

there is significant opposition amongst MPs to the Code as drafted, yet without your intervention, it will come into force without any debate or vote in Parliament.

Whittome highlighted “deeply concerning aspects of the Code”, including both its impact on trans people and the practicalities of applying it. In particular, she called out the fact that:

the code encourages the policing of people’s gender and creates an atmosphere of suspicion for us all.

As the Canary has previously reported, there’s no way to prove whether or not you’re trans using official documentation.

As such, the code encourages service providers to exclude people from single-sex spaces purely according to how they look and act. That affects everybody, but especially gender non-conforming individuals.

The Lemkin Institute, a global watchdog monitoring genocide, has also called out the code’s clear discrimination against trans and intersex individuals. Likewise, MPs voiced strong arguments against the code during a parliamentary debate on the first day of Pride Month.

20,000 people write to their MPs

Whittome also stated that after the EHRC chair — Mary-Ann Stephenson — appeared before the Women and Equalities Select Committee, 8 of the 11 committee members signed the motion to disapprove the EHRC draft code.

Those 8 committee members joined the 165 MPs who have signed the Early Day Motion. Alongside them, Whittome highlighted the massive public outcry against the code:

As an indication of the strength of feeling among trans people and those who care about them, nearly 20,000 people have now written to their MP urging them to disapprove the code.

This mass outcry is unsurprising, given the clear stitch-up behind the code. Whittome pointed out that it took the “most hardline interpretation” of the Supreme Court’s original ruling that trans women were not considered women under the Equality Act. The EHRC used the ruling to argue that:

very likely to amount to unlawful sex discrimination against the people of the opposite sex who are not allowed to use it.

In doing so, the so-called equalities watchdog ignored the subsequent High Court ruling that:

in a case where the provision of separate lavatories labelled male and female was materially similar… there would, in principle, be scope for a strong argument that a rule or practice that permitted trans women to use the “female” lavatory but required other biological men to use the male lavatory would comprise different but not less favourable treatment on the grounds of sex.

‘It is not too late’

It is, by now, abundantly clear that both the EHRC and the UK government are actively working towards the exclusion of trans people from daily life. At every opportunity, they have ignored evidence of the negative impacts of their course of action, and chosen to take the most discriminatory avenues possible.

In signing off her letter, Whittome stated that:

It is not too late to pull the Code, ask the EHRC to think again and begin the work of how we will truly legislate to protect trans people’s rights. I urge you to listen to trans people, service providers, rights bodies and the 165 MPs who have signed my motion. Rather than bring this code into force without even a vote, I urge you to withdraw it now and take responsibility for fixing this mess.

Despite the massive support for the motion, it carries no weight to trigger a debate or a rejection of the EHRC code in its own right. As such, Phillipson would have to choose to hold a vote or withdraw the legislation herself. Without even this basic act of fairness, the code’s period of non-existent ‘scrutiny’ will end in a matter of days.

This is not just about trans, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals — it is a demonstration of the fragility of all of our rights under the UK government. If, over the course of just a few years, trans people can lose the vast majority of their rights without so much as a vote, what mechanism is there to protect any of us?

Featured image via Norbu Gyachung / Unsplash