A judge in Scotland has ruled that schools must provide separate bathrooms for boys and girls, following a legal challenge from parents who objected to the lack of single-sex facilities at a new school.
The case centered on Earlston Primary School in the Scottish Borders, where only gender-neutral washrooms had been built.
Parents Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley launched a judicial review after repeatedly raising concerns about the school’s lack of single sex washrooms, including issues surrounding transgender policies at the school and the lack of traditional restroom options for their son, Ethan.
Hurley, who works at Earlston as a pupil support worker, said she first raised concerns in November 2023 when the school began supporting the “social transition” of another student. That support included participation in gender identity-based races during sports day. She learned later on that children like her son could be punished for so-called “misgendering” classmates and that the newly constructed school would include only gender-neutral bathrooms, reports the Times.
“We just want all children to be safeguarded,” Hurley said. “We have great empathy for any child, but we just wanted our rights respected at the same time, and that wasn’t happening. In the end we felt we had no choice but to pull our child out of the school, which left him devastated.”
Her partner, Stratford, said he felt brushed off by the school’s leadership. The 42-year-old firefighter claimed that when he raised his concerns, the head teacher questioned his parenting and how he was preparing Ethan for “the diverse world we live in.”
“You’re talking about children who still believe in Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy,” he said. “We’ve won, but common sense says we should never have been in this position in the first place.”
On Wednesday at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, the top civil court in Scotland, the council’s legal representative Ruth Crawford KC accepted a declarator—a formal court order—clarifying that the policy to exclude sex-segregated lavatories was against the law.
Lady Ross KC, the presiding judge, confirmed she would issue the order, which will clarify the legal responsibilities of Scottish state schools regarding toilet facilities, reports The National.
For Women Scotland, a campaign group that supported the parents, said this decision could be the “first of many” following their recent Supreme Court victory. That ruling stated that “for the purposes of UK equalities law, biological men could not become legally female.”
The parents also had concerns about their daughter Ivie, who is just three years old, and would have been expected to share lavatories with boys when she starts school.
According to Stratford, “They knew they were breaking the law. We brought this to their attention when it was still a building site, so they could have rectified it there and then, and saved them a fortune.”
Despite regulations dating back to 1967 requiring sex-segregated bathrooms—including urinals for boys—schools across Scotland have increasingly implemented gender-neutral lavatories. This trend followed 2021 guidance from the Scottish government that labels sex-based bathroom use as a “social convention.” That same guidance says students can identify as transgender “at any age,” and that schools should accommodate by asking for new names and pronouns.
The case centered on Earlston Primary School in the Scottish Borders, where only gender-neutral washrooms had been built.
Parents Sean Stratford and Leigh Hurley launched a judicial review after repeatedly raising concerns about the school’s lack of single sex washrooms, including issues surrounding transgender policies at the school and the lack of traditional restroom options for their son, Ethan.
Hurley, who works at Earlston as a pupil support worker, said she first raised concerns in November 2023 when the school began supporting the “social transition” of another student. That support included participation in gender identity-based races during sports day. She learned later on that children like her son could be punished for so-called “misgendering” classmates and that the newly constructed school would include only gender-neutral bathrooms, reports the Times.
“We just want all children to be safeguarded,” Hurley said. “We have great empathy for any child, but we just wanted our rights respected at the same time, and that wasn’t happening. In the end we felt we had no choice but to pull our child out of the school, which left him devastated.”
Her partner, Stratford, said he felt brushed off by the school’s leadership. The 42-year-old firefighter claimed that when he raised his concerns, the head teacher questioned his parenting and how he was preparing Ethan for “the diverse world we live in.”
“You’re talking about children who still believe in Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy,” he said. “We’ve won, but common sense says we should never have been in this position in the first place.”
On Wednesday at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, the top civil court in Scotland, the council’s legal representative Ruth Crawford KC accepted a declarator—a formal court order—clarifying that the policy to exclude sex-segregated lavatories was against the law.
Lady Ross KC, the presiding judge, confirmed she would issue the order, which will clarify the legal responsibilities of Scottish state schools regarding toilet facilities, reports The National.
For Women Scotland, a campaign group that supported the parents, said this decision could be the “first of many” following their recent Supreme Court victory. That ruling stated that “for the purposes of UK equalities law, biological men could not become legally female.”
The parents also had concerns about their daughter Ivie, who is just three years old, and would have been expected to share lavatories with boys when she starts school.
According to Stratford, “They knew they were breaking the law. We brought this to their attention when it was still a building site, so they could have rectified it there and then, and saved them a fortune.”
Despite regulations dating back to 1967 requiring sex-segregated bathrooms—including urinals for boys—schools across Scotland have increasingly implemented gender-neutral lavatories. This trend followed 2021 guidance from the Scottish government that labels sex-based bathroom use as a “social convention.” That same guidance says students can identify as transgender “at any age,” and that schools should accommodate by asking for new names and pronouns.
