A women's rights group is planning to sue the corporation who run Hampstead Heath Ladies' Pond for £50,000 because they allow transgender bathers in. Sex Matters, who advertise themselves as a 'human-rights charity', are gearing up to take legal action against the City of London Corporation over their stance that transgender women can use the ponds in north of the city. It has been the view of the corporation that anyone who identifies as a woman can swim in the Ladies' Pond under its formal guidance since 2019.
But critics in the women's rights group say this goes against the Supreme Court ruling, which earlier this year ruled that the legal definition of a woman should be based on their sex at birth under the Equality Act. After the ruling, the organisation said that its policy of trans women using the pond would 'remain in place' as it looked to gather legal advice, prompting the threat of courtroom action from the women's rights group.
The City of London Corporation has said that it did not need to comply with the requirement for single-sex spaces in the Equality Act, arguing: 'The Ladies' Pond is not a single sex facility … precisely because trans women are permitted to access the swimming facilities.' Chief Executive of Sex Matters, Maya Forstater, told The Times they were 'amazed' that the corporation held this view, saying it was 'nothing more than linguistic trickery'. She added: 'The corporation claims that, because it chooses to define "women" and "men" according not to biological sex but to who wants to be referred to as "she" or "he", the Supreme Court judgment doesn't apply.
