In April 2025, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled that “man,” “woman,” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 must be interpreted as biological sex.
This was a definitive moment in the fight against gender affirmation.
But how did we get here, and where are we going?
How Gender Affirmation triggered the Gender Blitzkrieg
Outside observers are often left puzzled, not just by the obviousness of the definition of men and women, but why it was ever needed in the first place.
In the early 2010’s, when things were bubbling up in activism spheres, there was a quiet nudge to not changing the law, but redefining what words within that law meant. Though, this didn’t just come from lobbying crossdressing men, it came from a new wave of queer theorists, largely made of young liberal women, self-entitled autistic men, who began carving out new and ever expanding rules on oppression, from ridiculous pronouns to a flag for every occasion.
The explosion didn’t start on Reddit or Tumblr as many have been to led to believe. Though it was a key tool in the gender blitz that begun in 2015.
The idea of Gender Affirmation has been around under different names and terms for about 100 years. It was first articulated by Magnus Hirschfield, who was deeply sympathetic to how homosexual men were treated during and amongst the wake of Oscar Wild Trials.
Magnus believed, that outside of a patients physical form existed identities that dipped into both the male and female societal roles, and with that he felt strongly those who say they are the other sex, should be believed and enabled by science and technology to be the other sex. This is an idea that would come to form what is coined by activists as ‘Gender Affirming Care’.
Fast forward to 1979, in Baltimore USA. Jon K Meyers published a critical paper damning the concept titled Sex Reassignment: A follow up resulting in the closure of John Hopkins Gender Clinic. Though, it wasn’t just this paper, but a growing body of board members, including the new chair of Psychiatry, Paul McHugh, joined several years earlier and was already firmly against the idea of sex reassignment as a treatment.
Those keen to rewrite history, cite that there was a growing body of counter evidence, yet this completely undermined the growing movement in psychiatry, which had also weighed heavily in on it. Activists would like you to believe, it was some disgruntled bigoted man, but it wasn’t. There were many who shared concerns.
Just one month after the Meyers paper, in September 1979, a lobby group called the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association responded with a debut guidance document for transsexuals titled Standards of Care.
Following the article in the August, and the formation of the Harry Benjamin Association, New York Times faced it’s first bout of lobbying, with a seemingly neutrally titled article in October 2nd, 1979, with a headline ‘Value of Transsexual Surgery Disputed’.
Thus, the first layer of professional led trans activism was born, and by 2007, the group rebranded to what is now known as WPATH; The World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
Thirty years after the concept had been defeated, Gender Affirmation made its debut return on May 14th 2012, with the WPATH Standards of Care 7 (SOC 7). The impact of this guidance can not be overstated enough.
Closer to home and where my story begins, is at the birth of affirmation in the UK. At exactly the time I had been refered form my GP to the Gender Clinic, the National Health Service released the Interim Gender Dysphoria Protocol and Service Guideline 2013/14.
This guidance is what enabled medical professionals and the likes, to use the very wishy washy guidelines to issue hormones and recommendations for treatment. It was this guidance that helped me start testosterone blockers in April 2014.
All the while, this guidance was what empowered many others to affirm by any and all means. It leant heavily on SOC 7, and everything that followed in the UK was because of this covert revival of gender affirmation, powered by a long standing, globally reaching lobbying group.
I can only speak for the UK, because I’m in it, but you must do your own research to see how WPATH SoC 7 influenced your own health services. And it wasn’t just with healthcare providers, it was across the board, into sports, legal, finance, and eventually armed an entire generation, whom already viewed their elders as ignorant and in need of re-education. This new wave enforced gender affirmation, especially online where the community is the most present.
This after all is an online movement, and any disgruntled and disenchanted individual could become an agent of change, for we had entered a new era of Gender Utopia, where anyone could be anything they wanted…
Ergo, men in women’s sports, prisons, changing rooms, shelters and toilets.
The Battle for TERF Island
Women did not just put up a fight, they launched a resistance like no other, and won.
From the Adult Human Female Billboard from KJK, to the many women fighting to keep men out of women’s prisons, you can very easily trace back the milestones, and watch the battle unfold over the years.
In 2018, Trina Budge, Marion Calder, Susan Smith, and Magdalen Berns formed For Women’s Scotland (FWS), and in 2021, began their first round of action, where a Scottish Court had originally claimed that men who held a Gender Recognition certificate were women under law.
It was in 2021 that Maya Forstater helped cement Gender Critical as a protected belief. It was this case, that inspired the Legendary JK Tweet ‘Sex is Real’, and a year later it was judged that she was victimised for these beliefs.
A year after that in 2023, Mermaids lost their bizarre appeal with the Charity Commission, to have LGB Alliance stripped of their status.
In early 2024, FWS secured permission for their Supreme Court appeal (heard Nov 2024). After an arduous, long battle, they emerged victorious in April 2025 when the court agreed, a woman is an adult human female. Truly, this was set to be the Stalingrad moment.
Celebrations were had, and many thought this was it, this was the end of ambiguity, and the law could easily be applied then on in.
In a single stroke, the resistance had completely annihilated Gender Affirmation activism in its roots. These rulings have been so effective, that I don’t even think trans activists have fully grasped how badly they’ve lost.
Defeat and Denial
However, this news was not well received.
Activists of course backlashed, and they haven’t change tactics at all. The screaming, vandalism and much else, does not work anymore. Instead, these acts of desperation, and childish tantrums do everything but change anyone’s mind.
Those who have staked their career on gender affirmation politics, are also struggling to awaken to this new reality.
Emma Watson recently attempted to neutralise her past involvement in a podcast appearance, where she attempted to do the impossible; and appease all, but instead made herself look foolish, more so when JK gave Emma a much needed dressing down.
But its not just the celebrities who have overestimated their worth, but politicians to. They continue to operate as if it was 2018, calling for parliament to vote on the Supreme Court ruling, along side the Liberal Democrats, the Greens (of course) and some Labour contingents.
Whilst public opinion, shows that this is no longer a popular issue. YouGov polls from 2022 to 2024 Reveals this shift in motion.
Since the Supreme Court Ruling, organisations like Stonewall, have expressed ‘Deep concern’ over the decision. I would be to, if I was the organisation that had managed to convince 1000’s of employers to implement policies that were not legally compliant.
As has been pointed out by Tanya de Grunwald, a HR Expert who discusses the challenges of employers in the This Isn’t Working Podcast, this didn’t happen in a vacuum, some law firms have provided duff guidance to schools and workplaces, and are also partly to blame.
Even today, resistance to the ruling is rife, and whilst some employers and institutions are waking up to the change, others simply refuse and through these extraordinary risky act of defiance, they are leaving themselves open to litigation.
Encouraging others to defy the law is not only a brain dead move, it’s fast track to financial ruin and reputational damage.
Activism Fatigue
At the time of writing this, we do not yet know the outcome of the Sandie Peggie case, but I think we can guess what’s going to happen. For those not in the know, Sandie Peggie was suspended by the NHS in December 2023, for refusing to share changing room with a male doctor. Her case was heard earlier this year and was widely reported on by Tribunal Tweets.
As pointed out by Tanya in her podcast, this case is endemic of a culture that has many young people at the forefront, with months of experience, overshadowing veteran colleagues with decades, and pushing out experienced professionals like Peggie. And for what? The man who raised the complaint was on rotation for a matter of months, where as Sandie had decades of experience.
All because of Gender Affirmation.
Now, because of these women especially, these once unwelcome opinions are becoming main stream. Just two days ago, activists all collectively gasped, as Keira Knightly, who has been cast as Professor Umbridge in an Audio Book for Harry Potter, laughed off the question regarding a call to boycott Harry Potter, as part of the long waged war against J.K Rowling. That, along with Emma Watsons recent backtracking, shows a new public awareness of the issue.
How they Fall
What’s clear is that a drastic shift, but this is far from over.
No one will go quietly, and you can expect a lot of self-entitled men and women to lash out. It’s already happening.
The chants of extremism are becoming more desperate, and they are taking risks they didn’t need to several years ago. Going back to the FiLiA conference, where a ‘non-violent action group’, named Trans Bash Back, claimed responsibility for the criminal damage and harassment of women at the conference.
I predict the desperation will escalate, and someone will get seriously hurt. But what it won’t do, is change public opinion. I’d propose that in the UK especially, there is a general fatigue towards any type of activism, regardless of what it is.
The general public are tired, broke, and are sick of being silenced by the status quo via chants, slogans and flags.
Now, add in everything else, all the medically harmed, LGB, parents and all the families been torn apart. It’s all converging, and it does not look good for the activists.
They’ve lost public opinion, and old tactics do not work. Fear and intimidation, does not work, lobbying with tears, does not work.
They shout “When they’ve came for us (trans), they’ll come for you.” But they don’t realise, they are the ones who have been coming for us all along.
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"They shout “When they’ve came for us (trans), they’ll come for you.” But they don’t realise, they are the ones who have been coming for us all along."
Yes. Exactly.
As usual, you've figured it out and voiced it incredibly clearly--thank you!! Also thank you for the historical evidence--it's incredibly helpful--and thank you for all you have done and are doing!!
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and insights. Some of the history in this piece was unknown to me. I am grateful for the education. Thanks for digging deep!