Amelia’s Angels is a trans advocacy group that is run by trans people with the express remit to advance trans voices and provide support for our community. We have decided to release a statement standing with the Trans Advocacy and Complaint Collective UK (TACC) and other groups to no longer recognise the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as a body that is trustworthy, safe or able to credibly fulfil the responsibilities for which it was founded.
Following the Labour government’s decision, against the express wishes of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) and the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC), to appoint Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson to lead the EHRC, it is clear to us the EHRC is no longer a National Human Rights Institution and we strongly, as TACC have done, implore other “civil society organisations, equality bodies and campaign groups” to withdraw their support too.
Current minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson was expressly warned by both the JCHR and WEC that Stephenson lacked the broad expertise, the adequate leadership skills and the ability to restore public trust within the organisation. Despite all this, and despite concerns from numerous trans and LGBTQ+ groups, the government appointed their ‘preferred candidate’ regardless.
We do not take this decision lightly. And we do not take this in isolation. Trans voices are already being pushed out of the mainstream and are not afforded the same chance to engage with the government as others groups seem to be. So to no longer engage with a regulator is a big step for us. But the EHRC has, since the appointment of the outgoing chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner, become a body that to trans people is neither trustworthy, safe, independent or impartial and is therefore no longer credible to engage with. Instead, it has shown itself as a hostile organisation that on more than one occasion has been seen to be lending support to groups whose intent is the erasure of trans people and reversing gains made under the Equalities law, against previous and long-held legal positions.
Since Falkner was appointed by former Women and Equalities minister Liz Truss, the EHRC has been the subject of perceived political bias, including by Falkner’s predecessor David Issac who accused the EHRC of becoming “politicised” at the behest of the previous Conservative government. It has also been at the centre of several allegations of bullying under Falkner’s leadership. Former and current EHRC members have said that the commission is “transphobic,” “anti-LGBT+” and an “enemy of human rights”.
What has become clear, over the past three or four years particularly, is that the EHRC has been captured by narratives expressed by anti-trans entities, with countless FOI requests showing the EHRC disproportionately engaging with anti-trans lobby groups. It has undermined human rights with comments from leadership casting doubt on the right to privacy and family life for trans people, as detailed under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
Most damningly, it has forwarded interim guidance in response to the UK Supreme Court case For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers that, although not binding until it makes its way through parliament and is given legal status, has been misused to justify the exclusion of trans people from services. Although the EHRC and the Labour government has said this provides “clarity”, numerous organisations, including Museums Galleries Scotland, have said it does not and that it is unworkable, exclusionary and has the potential to do real harm, not just to trans people and other gender non-conforming people it wishes to welcome, but to the very existence of some companies, corporations and groups.
The trans community and its supporters have at every stage tried to engage in good faith with the EHRC but, as our community knows, this has been thrown back at us. When a body set up to protect refuses to listen to all voices and seems to be lending support to groups whose intent is the erasure of trans people by reversing gains made under equalities law, we know that we can no longer work with them.
We ask other “civil society organisations, equality bodies and campaign groups” to use the below template, as provided by TACC, to send your concerns about the EHRC to public bodies including the JCHR and WEC.
Click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h1haF_MqWOF1dIJHrh9ojDiIc6hgH45NfJBlSLb9UU0/edit?tab=t.0
If you are an individual who wishes to write to your MP to express your concerns, you can use the TACC letter template below:
Click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I-6XRzfScUUEwsoxMmnwEpCE-tEjtervc-OvOdk-2Sc/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you for taking the time to read.
Ami Foxx and Dillon Page (Amelia’s Angels)
Note: We have included links within relevant portions of this statement but have also gathered many reference points that support the remarks made in this statement as best as we can find. These can be found below.
References:
- https://tacc.org.uk/2025/07/31/statement-withdrawal-of-recognition-of-the-ehrc-as-a-human-rights-institution/
- https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/48943/documents/256872/default
- https://www.consortium.lgbt/2025/06/06/lgbt-sector-leaders-respond-to-governments-preferred-candidate-for-ehrc-chair/
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-preferred-candidate-for-chair-of-equality-and-human-rights-commission
- https://www.ier.org.uk/news/the-ehrc-is-becoming-a-political-instrument-former-chair-says/
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/ehrc-staff-quitting-transphobia/
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-65694666
- https://www.consortium.lgbt/ehrc-open-letter/
- https://translucent.org.uk/clearing-up-the-mess-of-the-supreme-courts-trans-equality-ruling-an-easy-job-for-a-politician/
- https://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/news/mgs-responds-to-the-ehrc-code-of-practice-consultation/
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65181018
- https://tacc.org.uk/2025/07/01/foi-exposes-ehrc-bias/
- https://www.wearequeeraf.com/freedom-of-information-request-uncovers-gender-critical-bias-within-ehrc/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/transgenderUK/comments/1l9nv1c/the_ehrc_fundamentally_believes_that_we_dont_hold/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1/part/I/chapter/7
- https://supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2024-0042
- https://goodlawproject.org/the-ehrc-is-ignoring-trans-voices/
- https://goodlawproject.org/update/legal-challenge-ehrc-guidance-is-either-wrong-in-law-or-breaches-human-rights/
- https://goodlawproject.org/the-ehrc-is-silencing-trans-rights-activists/
- https://www.wearequeeraf.com/ehrc-says-right-to-privacy-doesnt-apply-to-trans-people-as-european-court-says-it-does/
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/11/uk-equalities-watchdog-transgender-people-may-be-asked-about-gender-status-in-workplace
- https://iandunt.substack.com/p/judgement-day-for-the-ehrc-c99
- https://www.equality-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Erosion-of-Trans-Rights-in-the-UK-a-human-rights-analysis.pdf
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/trans-supreme-court-single-sex-spaces-toilets-b2740729.html
- https://translucent.org.uk/translucent-has-begun-the-process-of-taking-legal-action-against-the-equality-and-human-rights-commission-ehrc/
- https://transactual.org.uk/blog/2025/06/17/statement-on-transactual-decision-not-to-attend-the-ehrc-q-a-session/
- https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/ehrc-consultation-guidance/
- https://www.scottishtrans.org/joint-statement-on-the-ehrc-consultation-why-its-harder-than-usual-to-engage/
- https://transactual.org.uk/ehrc/
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