The existential threat posed to lesbian social life

but it has particular salience for lesbians. Lesbianism is the only sexual orientation that does not include men. Yet — and one does not have to think too hard about why this is — heterosexual men have always shown a particular interest in it. Many lesbians have heard variations on the “all you need is a good man” theme. This is not only tiresome but, often, threatening. Research shows that lesbians are at higher risk of rape, sexual assault and sexual victimisation than other groups, including heterosexual women and gay men.

How could anyone not have foreseen this? If men can self-identify as women of course it's going to happen: men in bad wigs and fake breasts, often enough not even bothering to shave their beards off, dominating lesbian dating sites. Along with death and taxes, the third certainty in life is men taking every opportunity to exploit women.

In For Women Scotland, the Supreme Court considered written submissions from a group of lesbian organisations with the glorious collective title of the Lesbian Interveners, which spoke powerfully of the existential threat posed to lesbian social life by the unnavigable state of the law. A possible outcome of the case is that the judges will decide that a GRC does make a male into a woman under the Equality Act, but will also suggest that parliament considers amending the legislation to sort out the problems this causes.

Perhaps the Equality Act needs a complete rewrite. But Labour have shown no interest. As I wrote last year…
The Equality Act was formulated at at time before gender became the new cause celebre so the wording is ambiguous on the difference between sex and gender identity, which wasn't a thing then (and isn't a thing now, either, but here we are), allowing for the kind of manipulation that lets men get into women-only spaces, women's sport, women's jails, rape centres, and so on. Clarification was required – yes, the Tories should have got round it a lot sooner – but the current ambiguity suits the gender activists. It seems to suit our new Labour government too.