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Lady Hale, former president of the Supreme Court, has stated that the recent Supreme Court ruling defining womanhood based on biological sex has been “misinterpreted.” This statement adds to the ongoing dialogue surrounding gender and legal definitions.
Speaking at the Charleston Literary Festival in East Sussex, Hale, the first female president of the Supreme Court, stressed her reluctance to “undermine the court and its authority by being critical of its decisions” following her retirement.
Hale Addresses Misinterpretations of Supreme Court Ruling
Lady Hale addressed public interpretations of the court’s judgment, saying: “But I can be much more critical of the way it’s been received. Because there’s nothing in that judgment that says that you can’t have gender neutral loos, as we have here in this festival.” She commended the Charleston organizers for their decision to proceed with gender-neutral facilities, “despite the fact that there are people saying that you can’t do that.”
She clarified that the judgment “says nothing about that,” adding, “It’s for other people to work out the other parts of the Equality Act, which permit but do not require services to be provided differently for people according to sex.”
Questioning “Biological Sex”
The 80-year-old member of the House of Lords also raised questions about the term “biological sex.”
“I was with some doctors last week who said there is no such thing as biological sex,” she stated. “There are plenty of things to quarrel with” regarding the ruling, but Hale emphasized that her primary concern was the “very binary reaction that there has been to it.”
She suggested that the “proper answer to all of this” lies “somewhere in the middle. So that’s what I very much hope we will come out with when people have calmed down and start being sensible about things.”
Fostering Societal Conversation
Hale’s fellow panelist, her daughter Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, added: “And it’s the duty of society to foster that conversation now.”
Hale echoed this sentiment: “Yes, it’s on all of us to foster it.”
LGBTQ+ Representation and Gender Quotas
Hoggett, the first openly gay individual in her position, has previously highlighted the significance of LGBTQ+ representation in the workplace. When an audience member inquired whether trans women should be included in gender quotas on company boards, she responded: “The idea that the trigger for all of this case was whether trans women should represent women in the representation of women on boards, I find heartbreaking.”
She expressed her desire to have “a talented trans woman sitting on a board of mine.”
The Spider Brooch Incident
Hale gained significant public attention in 2019 when she delivered the Supreme Court’s verdict that Boris Johnson’s advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament for five weeks during the height of the Brexit crisis was unlawful. Her choice to wear a spider brooch sparked considerable speculation, with some suggesting it referenced The Who’s song “Boris the Spider.”
Addressing the Charleston audience, she admitted, “The spider brooch was a mistake.” Had she anticipated the attention it would garner, she “would have worn a frog.” She clarified that she hadn’t heard “Boris the Spider” until a friend shared a YouTube video the day after the judgment, finding it “not a very tuneful song.” Had she been aware of the song, she would have avoided wearing the brooch, “because that was not the object of the exercise.”
Upholding Constitutional Principles
Hale concluded: “The object of the exercise was to uphold constitutional principle and the rule of law, and to say to the government there are things you cannot do. It’s a simple message. There are a few things, not very many, but there are a few things you cannot do, and it’s our job to tell you that.”