
Thousands of people took to the streets in London to protest a Supreme Court ruling that defined a woman. The court said that a woman is someone who is assigned female at birth.Activists and members of the LGBTQ+ community held rallies against the definition in support of trans rights.
Also read: Hungary passes constitutional amendment to limit rights of dual nationals, ban LGBTQ events
The Supreme Court issued a ruling on Wednesday (April 16) on major implications for single-sex spaces and services such as toilets, changing rooms, and hospital wards. The court said these services will function "properly only if sex is interpreted as biological sex".
While ruling, the judge said that “the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman”. In the law, “the words ‘sex’, ‘woman’ and ‘man’ … mean (and were always intended to mean) biological sex, biological woman and biological man."
People from the transgender community said that the ruling is a threat to their identity. Demonstrators were seen holding LGBTQ flags and placards reading: “trans women are women” and “trans rights are human rights.”
The London Police have said that multiple statues near the protest area were vandalised, including one of suffragette Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square.
(With inputs from agencies)