header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Gender reassignment discrimination: Claim blackballed?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
26 September 2025 / Charles Pigott
Issue: 8132 / Categories: Features , Employment , Discrimination , Human rights , Sports law
printer mail-detail
230747
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

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Set creates new client and business development role amid growth

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Sports disputes practice launchedwith partner appointment

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

Tax and succession planning offering expands with returning partner

NEWS
Read All
Who’s on the 2026 silk list?
The rank of King’s Counsel (KC) has been awarded to 96 barristers, and no solicitors, in the latest silk round
NLJ this week: When your brain signs the contract
Neurotechnology is poised to transform contract law—and unsettle it. Writing in NLJ this week, Harry Lambert, barrister at Outer Temple Chambers and founder of the Centre for Neurotechnology & Law, and Dr Michelle Sharpe, barrister at the Victorian Bar, explore how brain–computer interfaces could both prove and undermine consent
NLJ this week: Comparators—how close is close enough?
Comparators remain the fault line of discrimination law. In this week's NLJ, Anjali Malik, partner at Bellevue Law, and Mukhtiar Singh, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, review a bumper year of appellate guidance clarifying how tribunals should approach ‘actual’ and ‘evidential’ comparators. A new six-stage framework stresses a simple starting point: identify the treatment first
NLJ this week: Domicile—more than where you live
In cross-border divorces, domicile can decide everything. In NLJ this week, Jennifer Headon, legal director and head of international family, Isobel Inkley, solicitor, and Fiona Collins, trainee solicitor, all at Birketts LLP, unpack a Court of Appeal ruling that re-centres nuance in jurisdiction disputes. The court held that once a domicile of choice is established, the burden lies on the party asserting its loss
NLJ this week: Arbitration’s fast lane—with guardrails
Early determination is no longer a novelty in arbitration. In NLJ this week, Gustavo Moser, arbitration specialist lawyer at Lexis+, charts the global embrace of summary disposal powers, now embedded in the Arbitration Act 1996 and mirrored worldwide. Tribunals may swiftly dismiss claims with ‘no real prospect of succeeding’, but only if fairness is preserved
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll