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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00:00In terms of health provision, where does this ruling yesterday from the Supreme Court about gender recognition, trans rights,
00:11it's such a complicated issue, where does this leave something like the NHS now in deciding how they take their policies forward?
00:19Well, you're right, it is a complicated issue. The ruling gives real clarity now to this issue from the Supreme Court.
00:31That's a good thing. And I understand from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that they will be following up with guidance to all public bodies.
00:41And that is obviously to be welcomed, that there is clarity for women and clarity for providers of services, which I think is really welcome.
00:54We've been talking about this since 2004 in the Gender Recognition Act.
00:58I mean, 21 years there has been a debate about this in this country.
01:03Is it a shame, do you think, that it got as far as the Supreme Court, that it came to a ruling by a judge?
01:09Could this not have been sorted by Parliament, by politicians over the years, to get that clarity as you describe it?
01:18Well, I think, you know, as a Labour representative, you expect me to say we're proud of the Equality Act,
01:25what was brought in under a Labour government in 2010.
01:28We're also proud of work we did to support people undergoing gender reassignment with the Gender Recognition Act.
01:35Those are both Labour pieces of legislation in 2004-2010.
01:41And I think Parliament was clear in its intent.
01:45What we've seen, I think, in the last few years is some confusion around the implementation of that.
01:51And what we've seen from the Supreme Court yesterday in this long judgment, which obviously will need to be now carefully considered by government,
01:58is giving clarity to the effect of the Equality Act in 2010, that it has stood that test.
02:05But in terms of the clarity that you talk about, I mean, in what sense is there clarity when it comes to the practical side of this?
02:14I mean, for example, single-sex wards in hospitals.
02:19I mean, what do you now do with trans women or trans men?
02:23Well, let's remember that most people don't go into hospital who encounter the NHS.
02:3290% of patient contacts with the NHS is through their GP, through primary care.
02:37I'm here today to talk about what we're trying to do with waiting lists to get people off those long-term waiting lists.
02:42And same-sex wards were part, again, of legislation in, I think, 2001.
02:50It was a 2001 manifesto commitment from the Labour Party to introduce same-sex wards.
02:54That was mostly done in hospitals today.
02:58You have a large number of single rooms.
03:01You have smaller wards for same-sex, for people to have dignity.
03:05It's also important that transgender people also have dignity and privacy.
03:09And in individual cases, that will be up to local institutions to make sure that they provide dignity and privacy to all patients.