Trans Rights

Scottish schools are now required to enforce toilet polices on the “basis of biological sex.”

Back in April, the UK Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to trans rights when it ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

The decision stemmed from a dispute centring on whether a trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) should be treated the same as a cisgender woman under the UK’s Equality Act 2010.

A week later, a Scottish judge ordered that schools must provide single sex toilets after a case against the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) was brought to the court, per the BBC.

In light of the aforementioned rulings, the Scottish government issued “revised guidance for schools on supporting transgender pupils” on 29 September, which includes new recommendations for campus toilets and changing rooms.

The updated guidance says that under the law, schools must provide separate toilet facilities for boys and girls “on the basis of biological sex” – which the document refers to “sex recorded at birth – and accessible facilities for young people with a disability.

It also says that “educational authorities and schools should consider toilet provisions necessary for transgender pupils,” such as “gender neutral provisions.”

“The design of gender neutral facilities should ensure privacy for all young people. In practice, this should include features such as full height walls and doors and should take account of the particular needs of female pupils,” the guidance adds.

“Where any change is being introduced to the arrangements that a pupil has been familiar with, there should be additional planning and consideration of their needs, including relating to their safety and wellbeing.

“It is necessary to recognise and mitigate as far as possible, the risk of ‘outing’ a young person. This may mean that it is necessary that practical arrangements such as enabling young people to use facilities outwith usual breaktimes, or for particular facilities to be available aligned to the young person’s activities within school, to reduce visibility of them moving across and within the school building to access toilet or changing room facilities.”

Previously, schools were told that trans students could use any toilet they felt most comfortable in.

In an interview with BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth gave further insight into the adjusted guidance.

“The Scottish Government has made it absolutely clear that we accept the Supreme Court ruling, and since April we’ve been taking forward the detailed work that is necessary as a consequence of the ruling,” she said.

“Now we know in Scotland all schools are required to provide separate toilets for girls and boys, and in addition, the guidance makes clear that councils should give careful consideration to the individual needs of transgender pupils in light of the school context.”

Gilruth went on to say that the guidance was not mandatory, just suggestions from the Scottish government.

“That’s because of the statutory legal requirements that mean under the 1980 Education Act that our councils run our schools, not the government directly,” she continued.

“There are not penalties, but of course it is incumbent on the government to update our guidance in line with legal changes.”

While Gilruth confirmed that the guidance isn’t mandatory, she confirmed that schools are “required by law to have separate toilet facilities for boys and girls and also to have accessible toilet provisions.”

“And of course the guidance has been updated to recognise the clarification of the definition of sex under the Equality Act 2010 following the Supreme Court judgement,” she added.

In a separate interview with Good Morning Scotland, the general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) discussed the challenges that arise with the new guidance, stating that it doesn’t fully address the needs of trans youth. 

“Considering the nature of the Supreme Court judgement, it would be difficult for the Scottish Government to advise anything other than something which is considered to be compliant with the law,” she explained.

“The difficulty with it is that it perhaps does not fully address the needs of transgender young people in that many of them will not feel comfortable whatsoever using the toilets that the guidance suggests that they should.

“There’s suggestion in the guidance that perhaps those young people could use disabled toilet facilities or even staff toilet facilities, and neither of those are perfect.”

New data has revealed the “unprecedented reversal” of trans rights in Europe and Central Asia.

On 13 May, the Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU) organisation released its Trans Rights & Map 2025 report, which “shows country-specific requirements for legal gender recognition, protections for trans asylum seekers, hate crime and speech laws, and more.”

For the first time in its 13-year history, the report revealed that setbacks in human rights for trans people across Central Asia and Europe now outweigh progress.

Out of the 54 countries in the aforementioned regions, only 39 countries have legal or administrative measures in place that make legal recognition of gender available to trans people. Of those select countries, 24 require a mental health diagnosis, 12 demand sterility and 12 countries base legal gender recognition procedures on self-determination.

In regard to trans asylum seekers, only 27 countries out of the 54 reviewed offer explicit international protection on the grounds of gender identity.

When analysing hate speech and crime, the report revealed that 24 countries have laws in place that prohibit hate crimes against trans people, with 16 of those territories being European Union member states.

Regarding non-discrimination practices, only 20 of the 27 EU member states protect against discrimination in employment based on gender identity.

Of the 27 EU member states, 17 protect against discrimination in access to goods and services on the grounds of gender identity, while only 15 protect against housing discrimination based on gender identity.

Lastly, Iceland and Malta are the only two countries that have effectively depathologised trans identities, and 10 out of the 54 reviewed states prohibit conversion practices on the grounds of gender identity.

“The data confirms what trans people have been saying and feeling it. It shows a historically low amount of progress and historically high levels of stagnation,” TGEU senior research officer Freya Watkins said in a statement.

“In 2025, we saw more than twice as much regression as progress on our Map. This marks the first time in the 13-year history of the project when clearly more rights have been taken away than have been gained.”

TGEU Executive Director Ymania Brown echoed similar sentiments, calling on the EU to “actively defend trans people’s dignity and human rights by adopting an ambitious EU LGBTIQ Strategy.

“Despite the unmistakable deterioration of the situation for trans people, many political leaders halt progress and recoil from solidarity action–– as if this could stop the attack. The opposite is true. Only going forward will stop the attack on our rights and our value system,” Brown said.

“How the EU responds to this threat within its own borders sets the tone globally. In Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, Human rights protections are visibly eroding. This is a critical moment. Europe can defend or it can lead. But it cannot look the other way. Dignity is not optional. Equality is not negotiable. And most important of all, freedom, is not for the few.”

The recent report comes at a time when trans people worldwide are facing increased scrutiny and attacks from politicians and conservative figures worldwide.

From the UK Supreme Court’s rulling excluding trans women from the legal definition of womanhood to the 47th president of the United States issuing several anti-trans executive orders, the rights of trans people are being dismantled from every corner.

To view the entire 2025 Trans Rights & Map, click here.

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