The Bristol theatre said people should continue to use ‘the facilities most appropriate for them’
Bristol Old Vic on Kings Street(Image: Bristol Weekend)
The oldest continually-working theatre in the English-speaking world has reiterated it will welcome trans and non-binary visitors to use the ‘facilities that are most appropriate for them’, after the recent Supreme Court ruling on the issue.
The Bristol Old Vic said it wanted to ‘reassure our trans and non-binary visitors, staff and artists that you are welcome here’.
The Old Vic issued a statement on its website and on social media, which went viral with a wall of criticism from those on the transgender critical side of the debate.
In the statement, the Old Vic said: “Bristol Old Vic strives to be a place that represents all of Bristol’s communities and where all of Bristol’s communities feel welcome and respected.
“In light of the recent supreme court ruling on the legal definitions of sex and gender, we want to reassure our trans and non-binary visitors, staff and artists that you are welcome here.
“We continue to welcome everyone to use the facilities that are most appropriate for them and we continue to offer a range of choices because we understand people enter into this conversation from different starting points and life experiences.
“We have gendered loos alongside fully enclosed non-gendered cubicles and accessible toilets. We will only ever intervene if people are behaving inappropriately in any of our spaces. Bristol Old Vic belongs to everyone,” the statement added.
READ MORE: Posie Parker rally prompts counter protest in Bristol with heavy police presenceREAD MORE: Police investigating hate crime after BB guns fired at Trans Pride picnic
The Supreme Court ruled this month that the Scottish courts were wrong to decide that a hospital trust sided with a trans woman member of staff who was using the women’s changing rooms, despite the objections from a woman who worked there.
The ruling appears to overturn a raft of previous legislation, including the Equality Act 2010, and over the weekend, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an interim update on the ‘practical implications of the UK Supreme Court judgement’.
The EHRC confirmed that the Supreme Court ruling defined ‘sex’ as ‘biological sex’, rather than gender, and therefore if somebody identifies as trans, they do not change sex for the purposes of the Equality Act, even if they have a Gender Recognition Certificate.
The EHRC said that this now means, in the eyes of the law, a trans woman is a biological man, and a trans man is a biological woman, so trans women will have to return to using men’s side of single-sex facilities, like toilets and changing rooms, while trans men will have to use women’s facilities.
The sold-out crowd at Bristol Old Vic for the last event of Slapstick 2023 (spot Stephen Merchant at the bottom)(Image: © David Betteridge Photography)
“In workplaces and services that are open to the public, trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men’s facilities, as this will mean that they are no longer single-sex facilities and must be open to all users of the opposite sex,” the EHRC update said.
“In some circumstances the law also allows trans women (biological men) not to be permitted to use the men’s facilities, and trans men (biological woman) not to be permitted to use the women’s facilities, however where facilities are available to both men and women, trans people should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use.
“Where possible, mixed-sex toilet, washing or changing facilities in addition to sufficient single-sex facilities should be provided. Where toilet, washing or changing facilities are in lockable rooms (not cubicles) which are intended for the use of one person at a time, they can be used by either women or men,” the statement added.