Gaston welcomes England ruling on single-sex spaces but says Stormont policy ‘trashes women’s rights’

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) MLA Timothy Gaston has welcomed a recent employment tribunal ruling in England on single-sex spaces, while warning that policies in place at Stormont are in direct conflict with the judgment and leave women in Northern Ireland without comparable legal protections.

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday (January 20), Mr Gaston referred to a case in which an employment tribunal found that a hospital trust had violated the dignity and rights of seven female nurses by allowing a biological male who identifies as female to use women’s changing facilities.

Quoting the ruling, Mr Gaston told MLAs:

“Last week in England, an employment tribunal ruled that the dignity and rights of seven female nurses were violated because a hospital policy allowed a male identifying as female to use women’s changing facilities.

“The judge found that the employer had exposed ordinary working women to a ‘hostile, humiliating and degrading environment.’

“The judge also found that the employer breached health and safety obligations and engaged in ‘indirect sex discrimination’ by failing to address their ‘legitimate concerns’ about privacy and dignity.”

He said the ruling should prompt serious reflection within Northern Ireland’s own institutions, arguing that policies currently operating within Parliament Buildings do not reflect the same standards.

“It is correct for Members in the House to highlight that obscenity. However, in this very Building at Stormont, we operate a self-identification policy for toilets and facilities on the basis of gender identity. That includes permitting biological males to use women’s toilets based simply on a self-declaration of gender.”

Timothy Gaston MLA speaking on Tuesday in the NI Assembly

Mr Gaston went on to criticise the origins of the policy, claiming it had been heavily influenced by external lobbying groups.

“The policy that we have reads as though it were drafted by the most extreme of trans activists, and, in practice, it was: Stonewall was consulted on the issue, and, going by the resultant document, it effectively wrote the policy.”

The North Antrim MLA also took aim at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, accusing it of prioritising a “no reduction in rights” approach at the expense of women’s sex-based protections.

“The local Equality Commission defends its stalling on the issue on the basis that there can be no reduction in rights. In adopting that position, it has trashed the rights of women — rights that are recognised in countries that, unlike Northern Ireland, are full member states of the EU, such as Poland.”

Mr Gaston argued that women and girls in Northern Ireland are uniquely disadvantaged compared with other parts of the UK.

“Women and girls in Northern Ireland have no statutory guarantee of single-sex spaces. Women, whether concerned about privacy, religious conscience and/or fundamental rights, are left without legal protections that are enjoyed elsewhere in our United Kingdom.”

Highlighting what he described as a contradiction at the heart of Stormont’s own practices, he added:

“Those rights are flouted in this Building. That is not compassionate or inclusive.”

Looking ahead, Mr Gaston said he hoped the issue would be addressed in the coming year.

“I trust that common sense will prevail in 2026, that that obscenity will be put right and that the policy that we have for toilets in this place will be scrapped. It is time, in this Building, for you to be allowed to use only the toilet that reflects your biological reality.”

The comments come amid growing debate across the UK about how equality law, workplace policy and public spaces should balance gender identity with sex-based rights, particularly following a series of high-profile legal rulings in England and Wales.