A Sussex-based rape survivors’ charity has announced that it will be expanding its service provision to launch a new service for women which will exclude transgender participants after a lengthy legal battle.
Survivors’ Network, which supports survivors of sexual violence of all genders in Sussex, announced on Monday that it would be launching a support service that is only for women who were assigned female at birth.
The charity’s current services – which are inclusive of trans women and trans men – will still run alongside the new service.
The charity has said that this “mutual agreement” will enable it to expand its service offer and “avoid all areas of provision being forced into a binary position”.
Legal action dates back to 2022
Survivors’ Network first received legal papers in July 2022 in relation to action being taken against it in the Brighton County Court by one of its clients (the claimant).
The claimant, known online as Sarah Surviving, accessed the charity’s group work in 2021; she made a complaint to Survivors’ Network in September 2021 regarding the presence of another attendee in the group, who was reportedly a trans woman.
Sarah Surviving alleged to the BBC that the trans woman attendee “presented typically male in the way she looked and dressed” and claimed that the presence of this attendee made her feel unsafe due to a history of being abused as a child and raped as an adult by men.
Sarah Surviving therefore stopped attending the group sessions and began legal action. Her key argument was that recognising trans women as women and welcoming them into “women-only” spaces had led to breaches of the Equality Act 2010.
At the time, Survivors' Network had responded that trans women were welcome into all its “women-only spaces”, and that it would “vigorously” defend the legal claim being brought against it.
Compromise reached
Survivors’ Network ultimately avoided the legal claim progressing to court by reaching a “mutual agreement” with Sarah Surviving to expand its service offer.
The charity said in a statement: “We continue to offer support to trans, non-binary and/or intersex people and our existing groups remain unchanged.
“The result of the mutual agreement has resulted in the addition of a pilot peer support group for biological women who identify as women and biological women who do not have a gender identity.”
The 12-month pilot will be funded by the Office of Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner and will be developed in line with the latest government guidance to “ensure it operates within the law”.
The charity’s co-chairs said: “We are pleased that this matter has been resolved without the need for trial.
“Survivors’ Network is proud to be providing a new peer support group for biological women and we are collaborating with Sarah Surviving along with other women survivors about this additional space.”
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