Reposted by flâneurben
*Watching Harold Shipman pack up enough morphine to down a brontosaurus*
This doctor is incompetent!
flâneurben
@flaneurben.bsky.social
470 followers 480 following 71 posts
<peers sceptically about, not sure about this whole Bluesky neighbourhood> @flaneurben@mapstodon.space on Fedi
![Dear Mr Powell,
I write to you again regarding the Equality and Human Rights Commission's draft code of practice [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-draft-code-of-practice-for-services-public-functions-and-associations-2026].
Now that the draft has been published it is clear that the sections relating to trans peoples' access to services and associations is harmful, incoherent, and unworkable cobblers.
The code of practice unlawfully establishes a hierarchy of protected characteristics, leaving trans people open to victimisation and harassment at the whim of transphobic bad-faith activists. It purports to allow service providers to exclude trans people from both male and female single-sex spaces. It suggests that a person may be challenged to provide confirmation of their sex while also acknowledging that "There is no type of official record or document in the UK which provides reliable evidence of sex." The guidance is self-contradictory with regard to the effects of a Gender Recognition Certificate and risks rendering the Gender Recognition Act (2004) a nullity.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:g5lptai564vlsuhupuoqnmmm/bafkreiec2ojjkjdpe6sxusnrm24yopvo6iv3mpieoijyqalrkcl67b7o4a)
![The incoherence of the code of practice stems from two facts: the faulty judgment of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, and the institutional capture of the EHRC by transphobic activists (started by appointments made by the last Conservative government and regrettably continued by the current Labour administration). Both of these problems can be changed by Parliament: through amending the Human Rights Act to correctly clarify the protections for trans people that the FWS judgement muddled, and through reconstituting the EHRC's membership and remit.
In the meantime, and more urgently, the draft code of practice must be opposed by voting down the effectuating statutory instrument.
I urge you to support your colleagues, including Nadia Whittome MP, who have already raised their concerns about the draft code of practice; to vote against the implementation of the code of practice; to press for reform of the EHRC; and to support measures to correctly clarify the intent of Parliament when it passed the Human Rights Act to protect the rights and dignity of trans people.
Yours sincerely](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:g5lptai564vlsuhupuoqnmmm/bafkreih3fcl2s527fq4kon4bcgly4ycesupgedftfmyj5lmwm3ghzcxagy)
![The EHRC initially proposed to open its consultation for comments for a shockingly short two-week period, and only extended the consultation period after external criticism. Further, the EHRC has stated that it deliberately did not read and consider all of the submissions made during the consultation, instead using an unspecified (and inherently flawed) AI tool to summarise them. The EHRC has even refused to publish the consultation responses until the Code of Practice has been approved. [https://tacc.org.uk/2025/09/05/consultation-in-name-only-ehrc-blocks-mps-and-public-from-seeing-the-evidence/]
These actions are not suggestive of a public body which is acting transparently or in good faith in drafting new statutory guidance for approval by Parliament.
The content of the draft Code of Practice is deeply troubling. It goes far beyond the limited questions of statutory interpretation addressed in the FWS judgment and proposes restrictions on trans people's rights to access services and freedom of association which are regressive, insulting and will result in practice in the segregation of trans women and men from many aspects of normal daily life.
Even before the Code of Practice is approved, misreporting and misrepresentation of the FWS judgment (including by the EHRC's outgoing chair) is having real, negative effects on the safety and freedom of trans people--and also on cis people who may not meet conventional standards of gendered appearance or](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:g5lptai564vlsuhupuoqnmmm/bafkreihdwfofi56sdq2jrm4yyinr5jcqmrbknn3wqhbfmk3irqwvhuzi6y)
![behaviour. [https://transactual.org.uk/impacts-of-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-trans-people/]
The draft Code of Practice has been criticised by a strikingly wide range of expert groups, from the Scottish and Northern Irish statutory human rights bodies [https://www.scottishhumanrights.com/media/3044/positionstatement-policy-sexandgender-11082025.pdf; https://www.equalityni.org/SCJ] to the British Psychological Society [https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/equality-and-human-rights-commission-response], the TUC [https://leftfootforward.org/2025/09/tuc-calls-for-new-legal-protections-for-trans-people-following-supreme-court-ruling/] and the Good Law Project [https://goodlawproject.org/update/update-our-challenge-against-the-ehrcs-interim-guidance/].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:g5lptai564vlsuhupuoqnmmm/bafkreihejbhsi5szrnvzq7i6xgurmj4ttbtdgji3ilak3u2cjdbe6jbl3u)
![Most concerningly for the UK's international reputation and responsibility to uphold international human rights law, the draft Code of Practice has been criticised by a group of experts from the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council (the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system) [https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/05/un-experts-warn-legal-uncertainty-and-rights-implications-following-uk] and, shamingly, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security, which identifies "evidence of genocidal intent and actions targeting" trans and intersex people in the UK. The Lemkin Institute names the EHRC and the draft Code of Practice specifically in its alert [https://www.lemkininstitute.com/red-flag-alerts/red-flag-alert-on-anti-trans-and-intersex-rights-in-the-uk].
Given the clear failings in the consultation process it is essential that Parliament is given adequate time to scrutinise the draft Code of Practice, and to require that it is amended to remove the unwarranted and harmful effects it will otherwise have on the human rights of trans people in the UK. I urge you to lobby the Leader of the Commons and the Minister for Equalities accordingly.
Sincerely](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:g5lptai564vlsuhupuoqnmmm/bafkreibk6qmrg2oe6bq3fgfmcexcbw3p3wnsslm27wcyj6bpqgrtc6oq3m)
