How should a service provider deal with a trans woman who wishes to attend an all women event?

Assuming the business is a service provider for the purposes of the EqA 2010, it must not discriminate against a service user on the grounds of any of the protected characteristics covered under Part 3. Gender reassignment is one of the protected characteristics.

The first point to note is that, as The Government Equalities Office (GEO) Guide makes clear, a person can change gender without any medical intervention and medical processes are not essential to transitioning. It points out that some people choose not to, or cannot, undergo a medical process but are still trans. Therefore, whether the trans woman in question here has undergone surgery or not is irrelevant for the purposes of discrimination protection.

Similar considerations apply to a service provider, and it should assist you to refer to paragraphs 13.57 to 13.60 of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Services Code which addresses how service providers should deal with gender reassignment discrimination and separate and single-sex services.

We are not aware of any duty on the service provider to "warn" or rather inform the other participants of the trans woman's attendance or use of the facilities. However, we imagine that this type of conduct may carry the risk of being viewed as harassment by the trans woman, and so the service provider should bear this in mind.

Overall, the EHRC Services code and other guidance make it clear that there would need to be fairly exceptional circumstances for the service provider to treat the trans woman differently.