Being trans in Britain in 2026
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What is the new Equalities guidance and why does it matter for trans people in Britain?
This is The Guardian.
Today, from toilets to hospital wards, where are trans people supposed to go in 2026?
So I think we're going to pop into a proper Westminster institution,
the
Red Lion. Oh,
I've never actually been here
before. Since last month, thousands of people around Britain have been navigating a painful new reality. 27-year-old Amelia is one of them.
Every time I enter a pub, I like to get the vibe.
To show you what that's like, we've come to an ornately decorated pub near the Houses of Parliament.
It is quite a beautiful pub, I
think. Yeah, it looks very beautiful on the outside.
There's a mock oil painting of Winston Churchill, wood panelling and the faint, stale whiff universal to all British pubs. When most of us come out for a drink, we might be debating between a lager and an IPA. But Amelia, she's thinking about the toilets. Yes.
So when you walk in a place, you're immediately kind of assessing where are the loos?
Yeah, and having to keep tabs on the toilets and whether I'm going to need one soon or something like that, you know what I mean?
We walk upstairs to see what the facilities are like.
We're looking at a lady's toilet and a gentleman's toilet. Well, I'm noticing the absence of a disabled toilet, so that's obviously put me on edge a little bit. I'm now having to sort of, in my head, mentally prepare to go in there and for anything to happen. It's that fear. It's the underlying fear that the code has really brought out that is just, like, running through my head right now.
The Code. That's the source of this new reality. It's statutory guidance from Britain's Equalities Watchdog. Rules that pubs like this have had to follow since August. What it means for Amelia and trans women like her is that in this situation, she should use the men's bathroom.
I've got long blonde hair, I'm wearing bright red lipstick, I've got a crop top on and some jeans. I'm dressed very feminine. If I was to go into a male toilet, like dressed as this, something's gonna happen. I don't know what's gonna happen, but something is going to happen.
It's not just public toilets. It's changing rooms, hospital wards, domestic violence shelters. If you're a trans person in Britain, the code says you shouldn't be in the place that fits your gender identity. Biological sex is what matters now. For most of us, this change may have been completely imperceptible, not even on our radars. But for many trans people, it's completely upended their lives.
This is the first major instance in my lifetime of a policy being passed that has effectively stopped me from doing a very, very common thing that I do in life, which is use the bathroom. And it's causing people to not want to go out. It's causing trans people to not want to go into public spaces. It's causing us to stay shut in. It's ruining a lot of people's lives. It's just the inability to be free.
From The Guardian, I'm Helen Pitt. Today in Focus, the fight continues over Britain's new gender code.
Peter Walker, you're a senior political correspondent for The Guardian. Thanks for being back with us.
Thank you. Pleasure.
So how did we get here?
We got here because when asked to look into it, the Supreme Court concluded that there was a contradiction between the Equalities Act 2010 and the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which sounds very, very naughty. But basically, for quite a long time, There was a thing that if you had a gender recognition certificate under law, if you were a trans man who'd transitioned from being a woman, you were treated under law as being a man and vice versa. But there was a small number of cases in which predatory men would game the system by self-identifying as a trans woman and trying to get themselves into women's spaces, which in a couple of high-profile cases did actually take place.
Our top story tonight, questions over why a rapist transitioning to become a woman
was remanded to a female jail. While she was in Newhall, she sexually assaulted two inmates who she befriended. The whole crux of this issue is how do you balance the right of spaces which are necessarily single sex, particularly spaces where women are particularly vulnerable,
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the new Equalities guidance and why does it matter for trans people in Britain?
0:00–5:42
2
How does the new code force trans women like Amelia to choose which toilet to use?
5:42–10:05
3
Why does the guidance define single‑sex spaces by biological sex instead of gender identity?
10:05–14:22
4
What everyday fears and health impacts does Amelia experience because of the new rules?
14:22–20:18
5
How did the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s 350‑page guidance become a legal battleground?
20:18–26:43
6
What are activists demanding from MPs at the mass lobby in Westminster?
26:43–29:15
7
How did the meeting with MP Vicky Foxcroft address trans‑specific concerns like homelessness?
29:15–29:32
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Today in Focus
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