Transgender row rape charity starts new service for biological women

A rape crisis charity at the heart of a row over whether trans women can attend support sessions for women has announced it is launching a new service for women which will exclude transgender participants.

In 2022 a woman known as “Sarah” told BBC News she was suing Brighton-based Survivors’ Network because she felt uncomfortable talking about her own abuse in front of a trans woman who had joined the group.

The charity, which provides support services for survivors of sexual violence in Sussex, says it will now run a new group for biological women who live as women, alongside its existing meetings that allow trans and non-binary people to take part.

Earlier this year, a UK Supreme Court ruling said single-sex services should be reserved for people of the same biological sex.

Sarah told the BBC in 2002 she had been sexually abused as a child and then raped when in her 20s.

She had approached the group for support after coming into contact with the man she said had attacked her.

“I was finding it really hard to cope,” she said at the time.

She said she had found the sessions helpful and supportive at first. She called them a “safe space”.

However, a trans woman – a biological male who identified as a woman – started attending the support group for victims of sexual abuse and assault.

Sarah says the trans woman presented as typically male in the way she looked and dressed, and Sarah felt uncomfortable in her presence.

“I don’t trust men because I was raped by a man,” she said at the time. “I don’t necessarily trust that men are always who they say they are.”

Sarah stopped attending the sessions.

At the time, Survivors’ Network said trans women were welcome into all its “women-only spaces”, and that it would defend the legal claim being brought against it.

Now, in a joint announcement, Sarah, whose online identity is Sarah Surviving, and the Survivors’ Network, say they have come to an agreement before the case was due to go to trial in September.

The new group for biological women will exclude trans men (born female but identifying as men) and trans women (born male but identifying as women) as well as non-binary people (who don’t identify as either men or women).

The statement says the new peer support group in Brighton for biological women will run in addition to the original group that allows trans and non-binary people to attend.

“For some biological women, such a space is imperative for their healing and acknowledges their trauma,” write the charity’s co-chairs on its website.

The new service will run as a 12-month pilot scheme, funded by the Office of Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner.

On X, Sarah Surviving wrote “This is the best possible outcome for sexual violence survivors in our city.”