Deputy First Minister says NI Assembly needs to follow its own 'logical' legal advice on single sex spaces

​Emma Little-Pengelly was responding to the revelation in yesterday’s News Letter that Sinn Fein, Alliance and SDLP MLAs rejected clear legal advice that the recent Supreme Court ruling on gender issues means there must be single-sex toilets at Stormont.

The assembly’s current transgender policy – which remains in place – means that people can use the facility with which they identify, leaving all toilets at Stormont mixed sex.

The Stormont estate is managed by the Assembly Commission, which has representatives from the five main political parties. It largely operates on the basis of consensus, meaning cross-party support would normally be needed to change the current system.

The legal advice provided to the commission said that in order to deal with the new legal reality and avoid legal risks, all toilets on the Stormont estate which are currently designated as male or female should only be available to biological men and women.

A proposal to create two unisex facilities for transgender visitors to use – on a temporary basis until a policy review is complete – was also blocked.

Asked by the BBC’s Nolan show for her reaction to the News Letter story, the deputy first minister said: “I haven't seen the legal advice, but it does sound to me … as if that is logical advice arising from the supreme court judgment.

“And of course, the assembly should follow the legal advice in relation to this. I think for most people out there, this is common sense – what a man and what a woman is in relation to their biological sex.

“That doesn't mean that people should be demeaned or insulted … but of course, it should mean that female-only spaces are protected, and I think that was at the heart of that challenge in the Supreme Court.

“I think that is right and proper, because there are circumstances, should that be in terms of toilets or changing rooms, should that be about fairness in sport. These things are important ... many women feel very strongly about this too, that these spaces should be protected, they’re protected in law already, and yet that key protection, was weakened because of so-called ambiguity about this.

“So the Supreme Court has had to move in. I think it's sad that it had to move in on such a common sense point. But of course, Stormont is the heart of law-making in Northern Ireland. Of course it should abide by the law. Of course it should be stepping up to its response.”

When Stephen Nolan asked whether she would feel uncomfortable using ladies toilets with a biological man, the DUP minister said that it wasn’t about her.

“This isn’t about me personally. This is about an important issue at Stormont Stephen, and I'm not going to personalise it just to me. Because I think you do need to listen to people. There are people who are vulnerable, there are people who have had their own personal experiences.

“There are people who do not want to be in that situation, and the law protects against that. The law says very clearly that there should be the provision of single-sex safe spaces, as, for example, in toilets.

“And therefore, of course, the assembly should step up and do that. It is advice, as you've said. But the advice is on what the law is, and the assembly should always strive to abide by that law, as should all the political parties there as well.

“I haven't been privy to that advice, so I don't know – you're just reading me that report, but of course, the assembly should step up and provide those single-sex spaces for the protection of women.”

The assembly also expects visitors to have “chosen pronouns” respected under rules that were signed off by the Assembly Commission in 2023.

On Monday a pro-trans group held an event at Stormont.

The Rainbow Project meeting sparked controversy in recent weeks after it asked attendees to agree to a code of conduct which encouraged supporters to use whichever toilets they “feel best aligns” with their gender.

TUV MLA Timothy Gaston accused the group of trying “to enforce its own toilet policy inside Stormont” – saying that cannot be allowed. However, it later emerged that the group’s policy was largely in line with Stormont rules.