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Why now is NOT the time for “common sense"

Collette Philip's avatar
Collette Philip
Apr 18, 2025
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Because common sense is a tool of oppression

'A very practical, common-sense decision'

This is how the decision to make the gender binary explicit in the 2010 Equality Act was described by the UK Supreme Court.

A decision that immediately erases 20 years of progress for trans rights.

A decision that excludes non-binary people and intersex people from legal protection.

A decision that will further embolden those who seek to demonise and oppress trans women.

A decision that was taken without hearing from any trans women.

The judge argued that trans people are still protected under the definition of gender reassignment (and don’t need certification to prove this). But that's not the full story.

It’s another example that the law simply serves to protect power, not the most vulnerable. And the cisgender women (cisgender or cis = not trans) cheering outside the courts after this decision have missed this point. They have failed to understand that what they are cheering for, is the law to …

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