Co-op scraps policy allowing trans staff to use toilets they ‘feel safest’

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨TRAHR@quokk.au⁩ to ⁨unitedkingdom@feddit.uk⁩

https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/08/17/co-operative-group-trans-toilet-policy/

The Co-operative Group has removed a policy that explicitly allowed trans and non-binary staff to use gendered toilets where they felt “safest”, following new UK guidance on single-sex spaces.

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heliotrope@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
Reading the article, it seems that the Co-op are trying their best, in light of the government’s shitfuckery.

The updated policy instead says that, wherever possible, the retailer will provide individual, lockable gender-neutral facilities, with decisions about access to gendered spaces made “sensitively and on a case-by-case basis,” as reported by The Sunday Times.

The change follows the UK Supreme Court’s April 2025 ruling on the legal meaning of “woman” and “man”, as well as new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) stating that single-sex spaces should be provided based on biological sex.

A spokesperson for the Co-op, which has been a vocal supporter of trans rights, said it updated the policy following legal advice and consultation with its staff networks “to ensure compliance with our legal obligations and to support our trans, non-binary and intersex colleagues”, in a statement to The Sunday Times.

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- yakko@feddit.uk ⁨49⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  That’s a lot of nuance hidden by an upsetting headline.
  
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  - TRAHR@quokk.au ⁨33⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
    It’s segregation unless you meet some nebulous criteria.
    
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- TRAHR@quokk.au ⁨33⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  
  The retailer’s former CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq had told The Telegraph last May that she would “protect trans people to the end” following the Supreme Court ruling. The Co-op has since been hit by significant leadership changes, with Khoury-Haq leaving earlier this year after claims of a “toxic” culture in the workplace. Chair Debbie White also announced her resignation last Monday (10 August).
  
  How much of this is leadership based.
  
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