New rules on access to single-sex spaces could pose a significant risk to the mental health of trans and non-binary people, according to 15 of the UK’s most respected mental charities.
Organisations including Samaritans, Mind, Centre for Mental Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists have written to the equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, to express their “deep concern” about guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that is awaiting approval from the government.
The letter says the guidance could “deepen existing inequalities and pose significant risk to the mental health of trans and non-binary people across UK”.
It says: “Mental health services should be places of refuge, not risk, and equality protections must strengthen, not erode, the conditions that enable people to feel safe and supported.”
The EHRC is waiting for ministers to approve its official guidance on how public bodies, businesses and other service providers should respond to the supreme court’s ruling in April that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.
The guidance is expected to closely reflect interim advice stating that transgender people should not be allowed to use the toilets or changing rooms of the gender they live as, which was published by the EHRC immediately after the ruling.
Last month a version leaked to the Times suggested that service providers would be able to question transgender women over whether they should be using single-sex facilities “based on how they look, their behaviour or concerns raised by others”.
The organisations, which also include the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, Beat, the Mental Health Foundation and the Association of Mental Health First Aiders, are concerned about the impact on access to inpatient wards as well as community-based and crisis services.
They write: “Living in fear of abuse, discrimination or humiliation is a major risk factor for poor mental health, and trans and non-binary people already experience some of the highest rates of mental ill health in the UK, driven by stigma, exclusion and barriers to affirming care.”
Andy Bell, the chief executive of Centre for Mental Health, called for a meeting with Phillipson “to discuss how we can work together to safeguard the mental health, dignity and equality of trans and non-binary people across the UK”.
Phillipson has previously said ministers will take as much time as necessary to get the new rules right, saying “we want to make sure that women have access to a single-sex provision” and that “trans people should be treated with dignity and respect”.
The EHRC’s former chair Kishwer Falkner acknowledged when the guidance was submitted to the government in September that it would be “difficult” for many services to shape workable policies.
