Transgender Rights

The UK supreme court has issued a historic and definitive ruling that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer only to a biological woman and to biological sex.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex.

So as the dust settles on the ruling, what can we take away from it?

The United Kingdom’s supreme court ruled Wednesday that males who identify as women do not fall qualify as women under anti-discrimination law, a monumental decision that will have major consequences for British law.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill Friday that strikes gender identity from the state's civil rights law, making Iowa the first state to remove civil rights from a previously protected class.

The bill passed the Republican-majority state Senate, 33-15, along party lines Thursday. Less than an hour later, the House passed its version of the bill, 60-36, with five Republicans joining Democrats to vote against it. 

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill on Friday that removes protections for transgender people in the state’s civil rights code. 

While not every state has protections for transgender people, Iowa Democrats added them to the civil rights code in 2007. 

Iowa’s Republican-led Legislature voted Thursday to remove gender identity as a protected class from the state’s civil rights code, sending the first-of-its-kind measure to Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). 

Over the last five years, legislators across the country have escalated their attacks on trans youth and adults.

Iowa, however, now holds the dubious distinction of becoming the first statehouse to repeal civil rights protections for trans people. The bill legislators passed on Thursday explicitly removes civil rights protections that had been enshrined in state law. Once the pro-discrimination bill is signed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, trans people in Iowa will no longer be considered a protected category under state law.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that prevents transgender women from competing in female categories of sports.

The order provides guidance, regulations and legal interpretations, and it will enlist the Department of Education to investigate high schools thought to be non-compliant.

Republicans say it restores fairness to sports but LGBT advocacy and human rights organisations have described the move as discriminatory.

The order, which goes into effect immediately, largely covers high school, universities and grassroots sports.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.