We did a timeline of the EHRC’s journey to the dark side. You can download it below.
Sterling work has been done by organisations such as Translucent and TACC to expose this capture. But if you would like it set out in a nice neat timeline, feel free to download our own analysis.
Enjoy. (Or not).
Some background – a short blog
So, what has the EHRC ever done for us? The short answer, of course, is loads. For younger trans folks and for those who have come lately to an awareness of the EHRC as one of, if not ‘the,’ most serious threat to the existence of trans folks in the UK today, it may come as some surprise to realise it was not always thus.
For years, trans people have been able to move around UK society, to participate and, even, to flourish, under guidance provided by the EHRC since the passing of the Equality Act in 2010. Their understanding closely paralleled that of pretty much every single person who had been involved in drafting the Gender Recognition Act (2004) and later the Equality Act.
Trans people counted as their identified sex/gender. And there’s an end to it.
Of course, if the decade or so from 2010 to 2020 had been beset by a catalogue of unfortunate events – trans people doing unspeakable things in loos, or streaking through changing rooms – there might have been some reason to look at the law again.
But no such evidence exists. Rather, the media hyper-focussed on the more difficult interfaces between trans and cis people. Prison is a fairly obvious one. Because while the presumption of goodwill within the general population may be taken as read, those in prison are, by definition, an outlier. Goodwill and honest intent may well be absent.
Meanwhile, anti-trans folks kept popping up with ‘concerns.’ That is, claims that things that had not happened might happen if there were not rules preventing them from happening.
For years, the EHRC would have no truck with this obviously exclusionary and anti-social discourse. It was in clear breach of the Equality Act. Not to mention that it constituted a clear breach of the human rights of trans people.
Breaching either of these things would be a very bad look for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (our emphasis!).
Then, though, in 2020, the capture of the EHRC began. Arch-sceptic, Baroness Kishwer Falkner was appointed as chair. The rest is history. At first slowly, then with increasing speed, they set about unpicking everything anyone had ever understood about trans equality.
In this project, it is clear that they were extensively aided and abetted by the likes of Sex Matters. The extent of the indulgence shown to anti-trans organisations and individuals is staggering. Was it unlawful? That is one we must leave to the lawyers to determine.
It achieved a climax in June 2025 when one of their commissioners appeared to express the view that trans people actually had fewer rights than they thought they had.
Fewer than what, though? Than before? Or just fewer in general?
In practice, fewer than trans people have materially enjoyed for the past 15 years. That suggests it’s a real, and not just a perceived, reduction in rights.
What does this really mean? You decide.
Some footnotes:
* – Yes. in case of any doubt whatsoever, this is a mild homage to Monty Python’s Life of Brian
** – If anyone out there would like to help us turn this into neatly illustrated graphic, please drop a line to policy@transactual.org.uk