Statement by TUV North Antrim MLA Timothy Gaston:
“I am delighted to see that the UK Supreme Court has ruled so comprehensively in favour of common sense and biological reality. This is a devastating blow to those who have sought to peddle the fiction that a man can magically become a woman or vice versa.
“Paragraph 265 of the judgement spells out important points including:
The Gender Recognition Act did not change the meaning of the terms man and woman in the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act;
The Sex Discrimination Act refers to biological sex;
The Equality Act of 2010 did not modify the meaning of man and woman and
There are aspects of life which require a biological interpretation of sex including changing rooms and medical services.
“There is an onus on the devolved administration in Stormont to take note of today’s ruling.
“The funding of Stonewall – which receives public money both via the Sinn Fein lead Department of Finance and the Sinn Fein and DUP lead Executive Office – must cease.
“Policy documents such as the Inclusive Language Guide which was produced by the Finance Department and seeks to discourage the use of words such as mother, wife and girlfriend must be withdrawn.
“There can be no more nonsense of the Executive Office producing policy documents like their flagship Violence Against Women and Girls document while refusing to say what a woman is.
“The Justice Minister must revisit her policy on housing men in female prison space.
“The Alliance chair of the Executive Office Committee needs to consider the judgement carefully and reflect on how she has chaired meetings in light of the same – although one fears that she may regard it as “gratuitously offensive” given her reaction when I pointed out similar facts in committee.
“Furthermore, there can now be no question of the inquiry into gaps in equality legislation pushing Stormont down the same road as the Scottish Government who so comprehensively lost today.”
TUV party secretary Ann McClure added:
“I am proud to be a member of a party which has always taken a stand for women’s rights in relation to these matters. We never bought the nonsense that you can change your gender like you change your socks and are pleased that the highest court in the land has sided with common sense.
“I very much hope that the powers that be in Stormont take this ruling seriously and revisit their policies accordingly.”