What does the Supreme Court judgment mean for lesbians?

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What does the Supreme Court judgment mean for lesbians?

On 16^th April 2025, judgment was handed down by the UK Supreme Court in the case of For Women Scotland vs The Scottish Ministers. The judgment stated that the meaning of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 is biological sex. The Lesbian Project, Scottish Lesbians and LGB Alliance acted as interveners in the case, submitting evidence in support of the position of For Women Scotland that sex means biological sex. The judgment referred to the autonomy and dignity of lesbians and to their freedom of association to meet as a single-sex group. The panel will discuss the implications of the judgment for lesbians, how we got here and what lies ahead.

Speakers

Julie Bindel is co-founder and co-director of The Lesbian Project. She is an investigative journalist, author and feminist campaigner against male violence. Her latest book, Lesbians (Swift Press, 2025)examines what defines lesbian culture, love, friendship and happiness today. Rooted in her own remarkable story, this personal and passionate book is both an investigation into the obstacles to lesbian flourishing, and a testament to the particular delights of being a lesbian. Julie is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading School of Law.  Julie’s book will be available for sale at the event.

Professor Jo Phoenix is Professor of Criminology at the University of Reading. Her academic expertise is in the areas of youth justice, sex, gender and justice, qualitative research methodology, discourse analysis and academic freedom, politics, ethics and research. She took the Open University to an Employment Tribunal for harassment, discrimination and constructive dismissal and, in January 2024, she won her case. Jo is currently writing a socio-autobiography of her experiences of being a lesbian, a feminist, an academic, cancelled and a successful claimant.

Akua Reindorf KC is a barrister at Cloisters Chambers specialising in employment, discrimination and human rights law. She is instructed in high profile trials and investigations involving significant reputational risk, polarising and contested identity and equality issues or serious harassment. She is the author of the Reindorf Report into two cases of no-platforming at the University of Essex. She was appointed as a Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in 2021. She is a visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Law School.

Chair

Dr Diane Stoianov works at the UCL Children and Families Policy Research Unit (CPRU) within the Institute of Child health. She has a background in policy-facing research in the women’s sector, and is currently Research Lead at The Lesbian Project, a research think tank aiming to build a robust knowledge base around lesbian lives and wellbeing in the UK. She is also a convenor of UCL Women’s Liberation.

Organisers

This is a joint event of UCL Women’s Liberation and The Lesbian Project.

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