Single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms should be used according to biological sex, new guidance from Britain’s equality watchdog has confirmed.

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The updated code of practice, produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and approved by ministers, states that a transgender woman should not use female toilets or changing facilities because she is biologically male.

Instead, the guidance says transgender people should be offered alternative facilities, including gender-neutral or third spaces where possible.

The guidance follows last year’s landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which found that the definition of a woman under the Equality Act is based on biological sex.

New rules for public services

The code of practice outlines how businesses, associations and public services should organise facilities ranging from gyms and shopping centres to hospitals and restaurants.

It also states that denying transgender people access to all facilities would likely be disproportionate and could amount to discrimination.

The guidance recommends that gender-neutral toilets and changing rooms should include self-contained lockable cubicles with floor-to-ceiling walls and wash basins. The EHRC said organisations could also choose to allow transgender people to use disabled toilets.

Where premises only have separate male and female toilets, the guidance says they could instead be redesignated as unisex facilities.

The code, which runs to more than 300 pages, has now been placed before parliament. MPs and peers have 40 days to object before it becomes statutory guidance.

The EHRC first submitted the draft guidance to the government in September 2025. Ministers initially said the issue would be handled “thoroughly and carefully” before releasing the document eight months later.

Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson said the government’s aim was to ensure people could live free from discrimination and harassment.

“Our focus has always been making sure organisations have clear, accessible guidance on how to implement the law,” she said.

Debate over impact on trans people

EHRC chair Mary-Ann Stephenson said she hoped the public would approach the code “with an open mind”.

“I think we do need to broaden out the debates, and we need to start from a point of saying, how do we make sure that everyone has access to the services they need,” she said.

At the Watershed arts cinema in Bristol, chief executive Clare Reddington said delays to the guidance had caused confusion and misinformation.

The venue, which has gender-neutral toilets alongside separate male and female facilities, won a Loo of the Year award in 2024.

Reddington described the impact on transgender people as “toxic” and said many had been waiting for clarity on what the guidance would mean for “their ability to live a full public life”.

“I would say that designing toilets for everyone is great for business,” she added.

Clare Reddington

Campaign groups divided

Gender-critical campaign group Sex Matters welcomed the guidance.

Its co-founder Maya Forstater said organisations could no longer claim they were waiting for official clarification before changing policies.

“The new guidance is long and detailed, but at its heart is a simple principle: ‘sex’ means what it says – male and female,” she said.

However, transgender rights group TransActual said the guidance reduced protections for transgender people and the wider LGBT community.

The group said it would continue campaigning for equal access to public life and would publish a fuller response after reviewing the code in detail.

Employment lawyer Joanne Moseley of Irwin Mitchell said businesses were increasingly seeking legal advice on how to respond to the changes.

She said clear signage and the availability of gender-neutral facilities would be important, but warned that organisations could still face discrimination claims even before the guidance formally comes into force.

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Adapted by ASEAN Now. Source 22 May 2026

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I feel sorry for the unlucky future historian who has to write a thesis on The Bathroom Wars of the early 21st Century, and explain how societies went from peak-wealth to hell in a handcart in less than a couple of decades.

As Mick Jagger said all those years ago

"We piss anywhere man ' !

Surely common sense is prevailing here?

A men dressed as a woman is still a man biologically and must use the male bathroom /toilet?

Vice versa of course!

I can't see the problem?

"However, transgender rights group TransActual said the guidance reduced protections for transgender people and the wider LGBT community."

What protection do they want? Condoms?

Tempest in a pisspot.

All sides want confrontation and publicity to further their agendas.

About time too. The special rights for transgender people went too far. Your birth certificate relates your biological sex. end of.

Common sense prevalls at last

We don't have other problems obviously?

Another case of dumb liberals bringing down western society. The smug look on that clowns face makes me wanna puke.

Of course it is decided by biological sex. I dont want my niece sharing a toilet with a bloke in a skirt pumped full of hormones.

I dont really want to share a toilet with them either but I'll take one for the team (so to speak 😃) if it means teenage girls having safe spaces.

Time for the trans lobby to jog on.

When someone is busting for a slash do you think that they worry where they let it go. One other thing with these unisex toilets they must have CCTV to prevent brasco seat sniffing.

This pushing of LGBT rights & drag queens etc comes from the communist playbook when taking over a country and is done to break up traditional values in prepartion for the new system they have in store for you.

Gender neutral toilets would help, although they would not entirely stop this problem.

The age old toilet signs : We aim to keep these toilets clean, your aim will definitely help.

The other one is : There's no use standing on the seat as the crabs in here can jump 6 feet.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

third spaces where possible

Trees, bushes and back alley?

Easy

Inbetweenies can use the disabled toilets. They are generally underutilized and quite spacious.

33 minutes ago, Rams86 said:

The age old toilet signs : We aim to keep these toilets clean, your aim will definitely help.

The other one is : There's no use standing on the seat as the crabs in here can jump 6 feet.

Or

Here I sit broken hearted,

Came for a sh?t and only farted

Does this mean sex has something to do with biology? Who would have thought?

2 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

We don't have other problems obviously?

Women and children do though.

Have a 'Male' and 'Female' toilet, and repurpose the disabled toilet as 'Disabled and Transgender' toilet = 3 toilets, everyone catered for.

In my opinion, women with penises need to go to the men's bathroom because it's easier to urinate standing up, while men with a vulva can go where they feel most comfortable.

7 hours ago, Gsxrnz said:

I feel sorry for the unlucky future historian who has to write a thesis on The Bathroom Wars of the early 21st Century, and explain how societies went from peak-wealth to hell in a handcart in less than a couple of decades.

The archaeologists or the Antiques Roadshow people who marvel at the X-rays showing layer-by-layer changes in the stickers on the ancient toilet doors.

5 minutes ago, Look Chang said:

In my opinion, women with penises need to go to the men's bathroom because it's easier to urinate standing up, while men with a vulva can go where they feel most comfortable.

As I'm trained to sit down to pee, I have no problem using an adjacent "single-user" female bog if the one for the males is occupied and time is short.

1 hour ago, Rams86 said:

The age old toilet signs : We aim to keep these toilets clean, your aim will definitely help.

The other one is : There's no use standing on the seat as the crabs in here can jump 6 feet.

Potty-humor at its best.

Thanks for the laugh.

38 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Have a 'Male' and 'Female' toilet, and repurpose the disabled toilet as 'Disabled and Transgender' toilet = 3 toilets, everyone catered for.

Indeed, that would cover everybody.

It would also bring us full-circle back to the point where transgenderism was considered a mental illness.

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Have a 'Male' and 'Female' toilet, and repurpose the disabled toilet as 'Disabled and Transgender' toilet = 3 toilets, everyone catered for.

Just stick the word "mentally" in front of the existing sign and they'll know where to go.

Unfortunately though, many of them dont want their own dedicated space they want to be around girls.

This used to be in a PTT service station area near me in Kalasin Province. I think it's no longer there.

Has anybody noticed this presents a problem in Thailand where transgender women are open?

6 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Another case of dumb liberals bringing down western society. The smug look on that clowns face makes me wanna puke.

Of course it is decided by biological sex. I dont want my niece sharing a toilet with a bloke in a skirt pumped full of hormones.

I dont really want to share a toilet with them either but I'll take one for the team (so to speak 😃) if it means teenage girls having safe spaces.

Time for the trans lobby to jog on.

I don't understand why you think transgenders are a risk to teenage girls. You speak about this a lot.

Please could you elaborate? Thanks.

2 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

I don't understand why you think transgenders are a risk to teenage girls. You speak about this a lot.

Please could you elaborate? Thanks.

Sure.

Trans rapist who 'robbed' girls of innocence jailed for n...

Serenity Francis Johnston, 34, was found guilty of assaulting three children in Livingston between 2006 and 2012.

You're welcome.

2 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Sure.

Trans rapist who 'robbed' girls of innocence jailed for n...

Serenity Francis Johnston, 34, was found guilty of assaulting three children in Livingston between 2006 and 2012.

You're welcome.

Ok. So that's one. You seem to think it's all transgenders.

Please elaborate.

1 minute ago, youreavinalaff said:

Ok. So that's one. You seem to think it's all transgenders.

Please elaborate.

Of course it's not all of them.

How many sexual assaults do you consider acceptable in order to placate men who want to use women's toilets?