Disregard of Supreme Court ruling is no laughing matter - Sue Webber

The clear implication of the unanimous decision by five judges in the highest court in the land, that the Equalities Act referred to sex not gender, is that biological women are entitled to safe single sex spaces. But it seems these events organisers regard the law as optional, to be ignored if it doesn’t fit with their outlook.

Underbelly at Bristo Square

Going by the last Census, some 99.5 per cent of women do not identify as trans, so anyone with a gramme of common sense would make sure, as there has been for as long as anyone has been alive, that venues will provide toilets for women only.

But not the Jazz Festival, where its main St Andrew Square venue informed customers that toilets were either “seated” or “seated and standing”.

Unless gender wars have quickened female anatomical evolution to an astonishing extent, women do not stand in toilets and they certainly don’t want to shuffle past urinating men on their way to the loo.

Whoever dreamt up that wheeze to get round the law was either in need of a biology lesson, bonkers or was deliberately making their own pathetic statement.

It was the same story at Underbelly on Bristo Square, where a sign invited people to use “whichever toilet best fits your identity or expression”.

When the vast majority of women do not want to share toilet facilities with males, men were allowed to barge in, on the basis that they were just expressing themselves. Really?

At sports fixtures and concerts, there are two simple explanations for huge queues snaking back from the female toilets while there is spare capacity at the gents.

First, these places are never built with adequate facilities for women, and second most women really don’t want to use the gents, even if a sign says it’s an option.

And in Edinburgh in Festival season, I doubt many men would bat an eyelash extension if a man dressed as a woman uses the same loo at an entertainment venue.

I wrote to Underbelly founder Charlie Wood to ask that his company ensures that single sex toilets, based on biological sex, are provided at all their venues, particularly as the Underbelly is a temporary venue and constructed after the Supreme Court ruling.

There was, therefore, no excuse for not providing a third set of facilities for anyone not comfortable with using either the gents or ladies, although I suspect it would be somewhat under used.

Edinburgh Council is one of the Jazz Festival’s main funders, with councillors guaranteed places on its board and they should make sure it is addressed before next year’s event.

I like to think my email to Charlie Wood had an effect, because although he didn’t have the courtesy to reply, by Tuesday the signs at Underbelly were replaced with the, shall we say, bog standard Male and Female.

Hopefully all other Fringe operators will continue to provide legally compliant facilities, not forcing their audiences to participate in politically motivated stunts. The performative gestures should stay on the stage where they belong.