The equalities watchdog has urged ministers to act swiftly on guidance following the supreme court’s landmark ruling on transgender rights in the UK.
In a letter to the equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) stated that it had given the guidance six weeks prior and cautioned that, at the moment, no legally sound advice was available.
The intervention brings a very controversial topic back into the spotlight, and ministers are aware that putting the guidelines into practice will be logistically challenging and enrage some Labour MPs and rights groups.
There have been rumors that Phillipson, who is also the education secretary, is hesitant to make a choice while the election is still going on. Phillipson is running to be the deputy leader of Labour.
Although the paper has not yet been made public, it is anticipated to closely mirror the watchdog's interim advice issued in April following the Supreme Court's decision that the legal definition of a woman is solely based on biological sex.
The interim guidance, which stated that transgender persons should not be permitted to use the restroom of the gender they identify with, has alarmed transgender organizations and several Labour MPs.
They cautioned that doing so would effectively bar transgender people from a large portion of the public sphere. In a following letter to UK MPs, the human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe warned of the potential "widespread exclusion of trans people from many public spaces."
However, the EHCR said in a statement on Wednesday that since the current guidance did not consider the Supreme Court's decision or other legal developments, governments needed to take action to ensure that organizations received "accurate and up-to-date statutory guidance" on the Equality Act.
The guidelines must be accepted by Phillipson and presented to parliament for 40 days in order to become law.
The EHRC's departing chair, Kishwer Falkner, stated that the watchdog had been informed that certain organizations were still adhering to the earlier guidelines, "thereby permitting unlawful practices to continue."