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NLJ this week: Trans pool player loses discrimination fight

26 September 2025
Issue: 8132 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Discrimination , Sports law , Human rights
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Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ

Ms Haynes, a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate (GRC), was barred by the English Blackball Pool Federation from playing for the Kent women’s team after new rules restricted entry to those born female. The court held that under Equality Act 2010 definitions, she could lawfully be treated as male for competition purposes. Her gender reassignment discrimination claim collapsed, with the judge accepting the sport’s physical attributes made it a ‘gender-affected activity’.

Pigott notes that while the decision affirms legal protections for fair competition, it also exposes how little weight GRCs carry under the Equality Act 2010. For trans athletes, the ruling highlights the widening gap between identity recognition and practical inclusion in competitive sport.

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Personal injury lawyers have urged parliamentarians to reject plans to enact an extra defence in civil cases where child sexual abuse is alleged
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The Court of Appeal has upheld the principle of core immunity for advocates, in an important judgment
The Bars, Faculty of Advocates and law societies of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have come together to accuse politicians of putting lawyers at risk through their use of ‘irresponsible and dangerous’ language
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