Artwork. (Source: USA Today)

Judges from the Supreme Court have agreed to judge that the legal definition of women in the 2010 Equality Act does not include transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC).

This ruling may have extensive effects and lead to greater limitations for access to services and spaces for women of transgender women. In addition, it also promotes calls to rewrite his gender recognition law.

The British government said the ruling has brought “clarity and confidence” to women and hospital executives, sports clubs … for women. A Government spokesman said: “We always support the protection of single gender -based gender spaces. Single -gender spaces are protected by the law and will always be protected by the government.”

The lawsuit was brought to the Supreme Court by the gender mobilization group for Women Scotland, sponsored by the writer JK Rowling, after the two Scottish courts rejected the group’s argument that the definition of women in the equal law was limited to biological women.

Lord Hodge, Vice President of the Supreme Court, said the equal law is very clear that its terms related to biological gender are born, not a person’s gender, regardless of whether they have a certificate of gender recognition.

He said that affects the policy of gender and military, hospitals, as well as charitable organizations only for women, and the right to approach the dressing room and space for women only.

In its 88 -page ruling, the court said that although the word “biology” does not appear in the definition of men or women in the equal law, but “the common meaning of those clear and vague words corresponds to the biological characteristics that make an individual a man or woman.”

This ruling is a major failure to the Scottish government. For Women Scotland initially opposed the GRC transgender woman to sit in public management boards in positions for women.

The Hien Scotland John Swinney said his government had accepted the court’s ruling. According to him, this ruling clarifies the limits of the 2004 Gender Accreditation Act, which offers gender recognition certificates for transgender people.

The Scottish government knew they would work with the British Ministers and the Equality and Human Rights Committee (EHRC) to consider the effects of this ruling, because the relevant law was adopted by Westminster.

Those who mobilize the rights of transgender people have called for transgender and supporters of them to keep calm on this decision.

The Scottish Trans campaign group said: “We are really shocked by the Supreme Court’s ruling, reversing 20 years of understanding how the law recognizes male and female transgender women with a gender recognition certificate.”