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Transgender people must 'also have dignity and privacy', Labour health minister claims
Apr 17, 2025
Labour Health Minister Karin Smyth has thrown her support behind the Supreme Court after their landmark ruling upheld the definition of a woman.Following a challenge by campaign group For Women Scotland, Lord Hodge declared that the Equality Act 2010 refers to "a biological woman and sex".FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
In terms of health provision, where does this ruling yesterday from the Supreme Court about gender recognition, trans rights
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it's such a complicated issue, where does this leave something like the NHS now in deciding how they take their policies forward
0:19
Well, you're right, it is a complicated issue. The ruling gives real clarity now to this issue from the Supreme Court
0:31
That's a good thing. And I understand from the Equality and Human Rights Commission
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that they will be following up with guidance to all public bodies
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And that is obviously to be welcomed, that there is clarity for women and clarity for providers of services
0:50
which I think is really welcome. We've been talking about this since 2004 in the Gender Recognition Act
0:58
I mean, 21 years there has been a debate about this in this country
1:03
Is it a shame, do you think, that it got as far as the Supreme Court, that it came to a ruling by a judge
1:09
Could this not have been sorted by Parliament, by politicians over the years
1:13
to get that clarity? as you describe it? Well, I think, you know, as a Labour representative
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you expect me to say we're proud of the Equality Act, which was brought in under a Labour government in 2010
1:28
We're also proud of work we did to support people undergoing gender reassignment with the Gender Recognition Act Those are both Labour pieces of legislation in 2004 And I think Parliament was clear in its intent What we seen I think in the last few years is some confusion
1:48
around the implementation of that. And what we've seen from the Supreme Court yesterday
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in this long judgment, which obviously will need to be now carefully considered by government
1:58
is giving clarity to the effect of the Equality Act in 2010, that it has stood that test
2:04
But in terms of the clarity that you talk about, in what sense is there clarity when it comes to the practical side of this
2:14
I mean, for example, single-sex wards in hospitals. What do you now do with trans women or trans men
2:26
Well, let's remember that most people don't go into hospital who encounter the NHS
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90% of patient contacts with the NHS is through their GP, through primary care
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I'm here today to talk about what we're trying to do with waiting lists to get people off those long-term waiting lists
2:44
Same-sex wards were part, again, of legislation in, I think, 2001. It was a 2001 manifesto commitment from the Labour Party to introduce same-sex wards
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That was mostly done in hospitals today. You have a large number of single rooms
3:00
You have small awards for same-sex, for people to have dignity. It's also important that people, transgender people
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also have dignity and privacy. And in individual cases, that will be up to local institutions
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to make sure that they provide dignity and privacy to all patients
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