Education minister urges compliance on Supreme Court gender ruling

Education Minister Paul Givan has asked officials to ensure that his department is complying with the Supreme Court’s ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex.

The ruling has major implications for single-sex spaces in Great Britain, such as female changing rooms and toilets.

The court had been asked to decide on the proper interpretation of the 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Great Britain but not in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland’s Equality Commission has said it aims to publish new formal guidance in response to the ruling next month.

Ahead of that publication, Givan said he did not believe that a boy who identifies as a girl should be participating in girls’ sports or using girls’ changing rooms and toilets.

He said his officials were now looking at the implications of the court ruling to ensure the Department of Education and all its arms-length bodies are in compliance “with the legal definition of sex”.

“It is important that I follow the law, and all departments and schools in the education system follow the law,” he said on Monday.

He is expected to set out the policy for the education sector in the “coming weeks”.

It would then be a matter for the Education Authority how that policy is implemented in schools under its remit.

The minister’s comments came as trans rights groups held an event at Stormont on Monday, in light of the recent ruling.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Scott Cuthbertson of the Rainbow Project said he would expect ministers to be looking at how they comply with the law.

But he added: “What I’d say is maybe they are jumping the gun on conclusions they’ve made about application of the law.”

“They’ll be looking at legal advice, so will we. Whatever time it takes it’s not going to be clear cut, I’m guessing whatever side it comes down on there will be legal challenges.”

Other Stormont ministers have said they will wait for advice from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) before taking a position on what their department should do.

The Equality Commission said it would “advise all employers and service providers, including councils, to review any policies that the Supreme Court judgment may impact on”.

Earlier, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly described the Supreme Court ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex as “common sense”.

“We must protect women in women-only spaces and ensure fairness when it comes to sport,” she said in the assembly.

“Bodies and departments must make sure they are complying legally and factually with what the ruling said.”