Kemi Badenoch was last night praised for a “tour de force” statement on gender recognition law.
The Equalities Minister’s comments came in a Commons debate, after she was asked if the Government would support a Bill which aims to ban biological males from single-sex spaces.
Ms Badenoch said she backs any effort to clarify the law.
She added: “No child is born in the wrong body, no child should be put on a medical pathway towards irreversible medical transition.”
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss had presented a Private Members’ Bill regarding single-sex spaces.
Ms Truss said: “First of all, it will be clear that single-sex spaces and sex as defined in the Equality Act is on the basis of biological sex. Secondly, what it will do is protect the under-18s from undergoing hormone treatment for gender dysphoria.
“It will also make sure the state doesn’t formerly recognise social transitioning for the under-18s.”
Praising Ms Badenoch’s response, Maya Forstater, executive director of Sex Matters, said: “What the Secretary of State said from the despatch box at Westminster today constituted a tour de force.
“The era of ‘no debate’ is finally over. And it came to a spectacular close in the most important debating chamber in the country, if not one of the most important in the world.
“The Secretary of State sees clearly how gender identity ideology is wreaking havoc across society, from schools and hospitals to sports and workplaces, and how it is damaging women’s rights and child safeguarding.”
The Daily Express has campaigned to protect single-sex spaces through our Protect Women’s Rights crusade.
Ms Badenoch also told MPs that several countries’ gender recognition certificates will no longer be recognised by the UK Government.
This means people who have changed gender will have to provide medical reports to get a gender recognition certificate if coming to the UK from certain nations.
Some countries and territories on the current approved list have made changes to their systems which mean they are not considered to have “similarly rigorous” systems as those in the UK, she told the Commons.
Ms Badenoch said the change was “long overdue”.
