Trans advocacy organisation TransActual has directly challenged the UK government to step in where the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has, in its view, fallen short in protecting minority rights.

TransActual delivered 10 volumes of consultation responses – nearly 2,800 pages of evidence – to Equality Ministers Bridget Phillipson and Nia Griffith, yesterday morning (27 August). The documents relate to the EHRC’s recent consultation on guidance for businesses and public bodies following the Supreme Court’s April ruling on gender recognition and equality law.

According to the group, the consultation process was “fundamentally biased.” TransActual highlighted three major concerns:

• the consultation period being cut to just two weeks,
• the analysis of responses outsourced to an “unspecified AI process,” and
• stakeholder Q&A sessions excluded from the official consultation record.

In an accompanying letter, TransActual’s Chair Helen Belcher warned that the process lacked both transparency and fairness: “Please forgive us for not trusting any outcome from the EHRC that emerges from such a clearly biased exercise. The use of AI is especially concerning, given the known issues when dealing with ‘niche’ or ‘non-normative’ content, and the lack of transparency in how the data will be handled or ability to check the working of the tool.”

Belcher also expressed alarm at what she described as the EHRC’s readiness to embrace “trans-exclusionary policies” while downplaying the impact on trans people’s rights. “[The responses] reflect the community’s outrage, hurt and horror that unelected judges can overturn, at a stroke and without listening to trans people, the legal understanding we’ve had for 15 years... Individuals who have been happily and peaceably transitioned for years – decades, even – now face a deeply frightening and uncertain future within the UK.”

TransActual collected 375 consultation responses from individuals and organisations. The group says these provide a more authentic reflection of trans community sentiment than any summary generated through automated analysis. It is now calling on the Labour government to demonstrate leadership by engaging directly with this evidence.