SNP members are urging Scottish ministers to seek “accurate legal advice” following the Supreme Court ruling on sex, which they say "rolls back progress for all women".
A motion – which is set to be voted on by party delegates at the upcoming national conference in Aberdeen in October – also calls on the Scottish Government to set up a working group to focus on the “inclusion and protection” of those who have undergone gender reassignment.
Sadie Matthews, the SNP’s equalities convener, lodged the motion with backing from Out for Independence, the party’s LGBT+ wing, and Young Scots for Independence.
Members of the Preston, Seton, Gosford and Fa’side branch also backed the motion.
It comes after the Supreme Court ruled that the definition of a woman under the Equality Act 2010 related to biological sex, not a transgender person with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). A GRC is a document which allows a transgender person to have their acquired gender legally recognised.
Following the Supreme Court judgment in April, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued interim guidance which amounted to a blanket ban on trans people using single-sex services of their acquired gender, such as bathrooms.
For Women Scotland, who brought the case against the Scottish Government, are now set to take further legal action against ministers over policies on transgender pupils in schools and transgender prisoners.
The SNP conference motion, seen by The National, said that the Supreme Court ruling is being used by organisations and businesses to “limit access to single-sex spaces and services”.
“Conference expresses concern that the ruling has allowed for horrific practices such as the now legalised strip-searches of transgender women by male police officers and the medical exclusion of transgender people in certain healthcare practices.”
It goes on to call on the Scottish Government to “seek accurate legal advice regarding how services can continue to include trans people in line with their lived genders within the bounds of the UKSC [Supreme Court] ruling".
The motion also called for working groups within the Scottish Government to focus on the recognition of intersex people, as well as a group focusing on the protection of those who have undergone gender reassignment.
It also called for the party leadership to show a “firm commitment” to a trans-inclusive conversion practices ban in the next parliamentary term.
In May 2025, the Scottish Government announced it would not be pursuing a long-awaited conversion practices ban, as well as plans to criminalise misogyny.
It comes as the UK’s first transgender judge has launched a case against the UK Government over the Supreme Court ruling in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
