‘Sex realists’ demand Town Hall changes mixed-facility plans for Kings Hall refurbishment

Kings Hall leisure centre. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Hackney Council has been urged to rethink designs for Kings Hall and review its equalities position as campaigners argue the Town Hall is failing to protect women and girls.

At Monday’s (28 April) cabinet meeting, a group of self-described ‘sex realists’ called on the local authority to keep the Clapton leisure centre’s women-only changing spaces as part of its upcoming redevelopment.

Designers FaulkerBrowns had proposed new mixed-sex facilities for the building, but resident Suraiya Khandoker argued the architects’ plans would lead to voyeurism and were otherwise dangerous for women and girls.

“Single-sex spaces are most favoured by the public and it is possible to have women-only spaces with cubicles, plus mixed-sex spaces, to meet all users’ needs,” she said.

“Only by having no men in the room are women and girls safeguarded in cubicles in a women-only room.”

Ms Khandoker said: “The National Audit Office recently reported that the epidemic of violence against women and girls in the UK is getting worse”, while “most prevention activities introduced in recent years focused on reducing reoffending rather than avoiding initial offences”.

When preparing for formal consultation on the designs, the local authority held its ‘first series’ of engagements in April 2024 which saw “targeted” presentations given to focus groups from the LGBTQI+ community and residents aged 50 plus.

During this stage, the Town Hall received feedback expressing a preference for gendered changing spaces and “maximising” individual changing cubicles.

Highlighting that no women-only focus groups were held, Ms Khandoker referred to some “rough” alternative changing room designs listed on her Twitter account.

Suraiya Khandoker’s alternative designs. Image: @HackneyRealist

Monday’s deputation came roughly two weeks after the UK’s highest court unanimously decreed that under current equalities law, a woman is defined by biological sex.

The five judges ruled that obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) does not change a person’s legal sex, meaning sex-based protections like women-only spaces are only for those born female.

Ms Khandoker added that Hackney’s Equality Plan 2024-26 had also consulted focus groups from “every protected characteristic except sex, pregnancy and maternity”.

A council report on ‘trans inclusion’ in the borough stated that the local authority should take the “unique opportunity” to “heavily” involve sex/gender diverse people in the designs of Hackney’s leisure centre facilities.

It noted that participants had “expressed frustration” at the fact relatively new or recently refurbished facilities like Clissold Leisure Centre had been fitted with binary changing rooms.

Ms Khandoker concluded with a demand that the council not only change its Kings Hall plans but its policies for all of the borough’s leisure facilities “to meet its statutory duties”.

Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley said when it came to the revamp she would be “very keen to uphold the law and have open dialogue”.

Cllr Carole Williams, cabinet member for equalities, said it would take time for the council to consider “all potential implications” of the ruling, including updated guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) expected in the summer.

She added that Hackney’s frameworks considered both sex and gender.

“But in Hackney we’re clear,” she said, “this borough is not a place for hate, and we will continue to stand by all of our communities, including trans siblings, and against all forms of hate, discrimination and violence.”

The equalities chief stressed the Town Hall was committed to women’s safety and challenging male violence against women, pointing to the council’s single-sex support initiatives.

But she also wanted to avoid associating male violence with trans inclusion “in any way” by implying there was a “causal link”.

“I know that can cause psychological harm and increase the risk of threats and violence towards trans people,” Williams said.

She added that data from the Office for National Statistics showed transgender people in England and Wales are twice as likely to be victims of crimes as non-trans people.

These remarks drew groans from the gallery, as one individual shouted: “Three women a week are killed!”

Another accused the council of failing to protect women.

After the meeting, the Greens co-leader, Cllr Zoë Garbett, told the Citizen: “Rights should not compete.”

“It was reassuring to hear that the council recognises the rights of trans people,” she added.

“We also applaud Cllr Williams who, in the face of heckling from the gallery, clearly disputed the attempt to conflate trans people’s existence with male violence.

“Trans people just want to live their lives and use the facilities we all enjoy. [They] deserve dignity and not to be treated like a political football.”

The Dalston councillor recently urged London mayor Sadiq Khan to break his “silence” over the court’s ruling, “in the face of vicious attacks and growing hostility” towards the trans community.

She added that her party was “disappointed” to see the deputation introduced by Labour councillor Lynne Troughton, given the past cross-party “solidarity” over trans rights.

In 2023, Labour and Green councillors backed self-identification in a joint motion, ‘Supporting the transgender community’, which stated: “Trans women are women”.

In her speech, Ms Khandoker said this was an “unlawful statement for an equality plan”. At the time the motion was passed, the statement was not unlawful.

She added that the council should therefore cut ties with the LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall, which had advised businesses and organisations to go beyond legal obligations on matters relating to trans rights.

The EHRC’s interim guidance, released this week, confirmed that following the court’s ruling, for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010: “‘Sex’ means biological sex. A ‘woman’ is a biological woman or girl; a ‘man’ is a biological man or boy.

“A trans woman (even with a Gender Recognition Certificate) remains legally categorised as male under the Equality Act; a trans man as female.”

The guidance confirmed that public services such as shops, hospitals, leisure facilities, and counselling services are not obliged to provide single-sex spaces, but if they do, access must reflect biological sex.

It added that mixed-sex facilities, in addition to sufficient single-sex facilities, should be provided where possible to ensure that everyone has access to appropriate facilities.

It is not compulsory for services that are open to the public to be provided on a single-sex basis or to have single-sex facilities such as toilets.

These can be single-sex if it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim and they meet other conditions in the Act.

However, it could be indirect sex discrimination against women if the only provision is mixed-sex.

While the sex realists’ deputation came to the council in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling on 15 April, according to a council source they submitted it some time before the verdict.

Ms Khandoker was supported in the chamber by former Labour council candidate Laura Pascal, who lost last year’s Cazenove by-election last year amid a row over “transphobia”, during which she was temporarily suspended from the party until the eve of the poll.

Works on Kings Hall are expected to commence in late 2025 with the aim of completion by late 2028.

Update: this article was amended at 9.48am on 1 May 2025 to add clarifications.

Update: this article was amended at 11.31am on 6 May 2025 to add further clarifications.