Charles Pigott on how the courts are applying the For Women Scotland ruling
- A county court judge has applied For Women Scotland in a dispute over the membership rules of a sporting association.
- This is believed to be the first judicial consideration of the ruling at any level in the context of a discrimination claim.
The reserved judgment in Haynes v Thomson on behalf of the English Blackball Pool Federation [2025] EWCC 50 was published on 1 August. It involved a claim for direct gender reassignment discrimination, brought by Ms Haynes. She is a trans woman and is described as an expert player of English eight-ball pool. She has a gender recognition certificate (GRC) under the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
The federation is an unincorporated association which organises pool competitions in England. In August 2023, it announced a change in its rules so that only people born female would be permitted to play in is female competitions and teams. That meant that Ms Haynes could no longer play for the Kent women’s county A team.
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