(Yes, Even After the Supreme Court Ruling)
Let’s clear something up before another MP starts frothing at the mouth on GB News: in the UK, there is still no law that stops transgender people from using the toilets that match their gender. That includes after the UK Supreme Court ruling on 16 April 2025, which the usual suspects are already trying to twist into a bathroom ban.
What the Supreme Court ruling did (and didn’t) do
The ruling in question concerned whether certain single-sex services, like women’s domestic violence shelters, can exclude trans women under the Equality Act 2010. The court reaffirmed that, yes, in some very limited and proportionate circumstances, trans people can be excluded if it’s justified by specific needs and backed by evidence.
But what it didn’t do—because it can’t—is invent new criminal law out of thin air. The Supreme Court doesn’t write laws. Parliament does. And guess what Parliament hasn’t done?
That’s right: passed any law about which toilets anyone can or can’t use.
Men in the women’s, women in the men’s… it happens, legally
Here’s the part that absolutely fries the brains of the bathroom panic brigade: there is no law in the UK that says men can’t use the women’s loo or that women can’t use the men’s.
People do it all the time. Women duck into the gents at gigs or football matches when the queue’s 20 minutes long. Parents accompany their kids into the opposite-sex toilets. Queer bars often have whatever-goes loos. And guess what? Society doesn’t collapse.
There’s no dedicated “toilet police” checking your birth certificate at the cubicle door, and there never has been.
You can’t be arrested just for using the ‘wrong’ loo
Despite what transphobic tabloids suggest, the facts are straightforward:
- There’s no law preventing anyone—cis, trans, man, woman, nonbinary—from using public toilets based on gender.
- You can’t be arrested for peeing in a public loo unless you’re doing something genuinely criminal in there (and no, being trans doesn’t count).
- The only time the police could get involved is if a property owner asks you to leave and you refuse, in which case it’s trespass under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Still not a “bathroom law”.
The Equality Act is civil law, not criminal law
Let’s be crystal clear: the Equality Act 2010 is civil law. Not criminal.
That means:
- You can’t be arrested for breaching the Equality Act.
- You cannot be charged with a criminal offence under it.
- If there’s a dispute about access to a service, it goes through a tribunal or civil court, not a criminal trial.
So no, using the toilet that fits your gender isn’t going to land you with a criminal record. That’s not how any of this works. And anyone claiming otherwise is either lying or hasn’t done their homework.
The Equality Act still protects trans people
Let’s be clear: the Equality Act 2010 protects trans people under “gender reassignment” and yes, that includes access to single-sex spaces most of the time. Exemptions exist, but they are rare, must be proportionate, and usually apply to specialist services like shelters or hospital wards. Not the bloody Wetherspoons toilet.
So, unless a loo is in a women’s refuge or a psychotherapy group, chances are: you’re welcome.
This is manufactured panic, not public safety
The media’s fixation on toilets is not about privacy. It’s not about safety. It’s about scapegoating, again. Stirring up outrage to distract from the real scandals: collapsing public services, rent crises, and a government with the moral spine of wet cardboard.
And just like previous moral panics, about gay teachers, about women wearing trousers, about unmarried mothers, it will age terribly.
Toilets are for peeing, not politics
So next time someone claims trans people have been “banned” from the loo, ask them to show you the legislation. Watch them squirm. Then remind them: if you’re worried about who’s in the next cubicle, you’re the problem, not the person quietly minding their business.
Honestly, the only thing most of us want in a public toilet is a clean seat and a working lock. Maybe a mirror that doesn’t make you question every life choice. But again, that’s a different article.