Stonewall’s chief executive, Simon Blake, returned in 2024 to an organisation in crisis. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Stonewall’s chief executive, Simon Blake, returned in 2024 to an organisation in crisis. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian Transgender ‘Progress takes time’: Stonewall CEO on turning down the heat on the trans debate Leader is charting a course through troubled waters as a new survey finds trans people feel more pessimistic about social acceptance after combative decade
Gaby Hinsliff Sun 1 Nov 2026 09.00 CET Share Prefer the Guardian on Google T ransgender people fear social acceptance is going into reverse and some are retreating from public spaces, according to the first major analysis since last year’s supreme court ruling in the UK on the definition of a woman.
The Stonewall survey finds that while almost half of British LGBTQ+ people feel more accepted by society than a decade ago, 58% of trans+ people – and 75% of trans women – feel less so. Almost half of trans+ people now avoid certain bars and restaurants where they do not feel safe, 37% avoid single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms, and 29% avoid exercise classes or sports teams. A striking 80% are pessimistic about the future of equality, in stark contrast to the net hope expressed when the same question was asked in 2017.
Last year’s ruling that sex in law means biological sex was a landmark moment for gender-critical campaigners, who had argued that trans access to single-sex spaces from changing rooms to prisons was endangering women, and who saw the verdict as a relief and vindication. But it has had significant consequences for trans lives, said Stonewall’s chief executive, Simon Blake, citing warnings that trans people may avoid going to hospital under new NHS guidance that they should use wards matching their birth sex.
“If you feel as though there’s guidance which is impacting on your ability to participate in public life, to get treatment when you’re unwell, to be able to use the toilets which you have been using successfully for 10 years at work, when it feels as though your rights are secondary rather than equal – that’s going to make you feel incredibly pessimistic,” Blake told the Guardian.
Recently, he said, he had been out with friends for a drink. “They were frightened about going to the toilet – each time that someone went to the toilet, it was a question mark. That’s not the way anybody should be expected to live.” He is calling on government to monitor the ruling’s impact and act on any harms revealed.
The survey, to be published on Monday, also found 22% of LGB and 32% of trans respondents reported having attempted suicide at some point in their lives.
View image in fullscreen To rebuild public trust, Blake sought inspiration from Stonewall’s less combative early years, getting veterans such as the actor Ian McKellen to talk to staff about winning hearts and minds in a hostile era. Photograph: Lia Toby/Getty Images for BFI “What so often people who have often experienced suicidal ideation say is ‘I don’t want to be dead, I just don’t want this any longer,’” said Blake. “I had three people over the weekend say we are very, very close to leaving this country – friends, colleagues (feeling) that this is a hostile country to be in.”
Gender-critical campaigners, however, consider the ruling not as a rollback but as a clarification of what the Equality Act always meant. They argue it ha…