Dear [MP name],
I am writing to express my deep concern about the EHRC’s latest interim guidance on trans+ people’s access to public spaces.
This is not an abstract legal issue. The practical effect of this guidance will be more people being challenged in toilets and changing rooms, more trans+ people being outed in public, and more fear and humiliation around simply participating in everyday life.
If passed, cis women will also be harmed by this. Any woman perceived as too masculine, too tall, disabled, gender non-conforming, intersex, racialised, or simply not “feminine enough” may face increased scrutiny and harassment in public spaces. Encouraging strangers to police who “belongs” creates a climate of suspicion that harms everyone.
I am especially alarmed that trans+ voices have been so thoroughly sidelined in this process. Guidance that will profoundly affect trans+ people’s lives has been developed while trans+ people and trans-led organisations have been treated as too “biased” to meaningfully consult, while groups focused on restricting trans+ inclusion have been given significant influence.
This should concern anyone who cares about fairness or democratic accountability.
This guidance will not make people safer. It risks normalising exclusion, increasing public harassment, and making ordinary life more dangerous for trans+ people and anyone who does not conform to narrow expectations of gender.
I urge you to oppose this guidance and call for it to be withdrawn and rewritten through proper consultation with trans+ people, legal experts, women’s organisations, disabled people’s organisations, and service providers with genuine expertise in inclusion and safeguarding.
Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]