ore than a dozen schools across Scotland, including several in Aberdeenshire, are reinstating single-sex toilet facilities after a series of legal rulings clarified that women are defined by biological sex under equalities law.
At least 18 schools in areas such as Argyll and Bute, the Scottish Borders and Shetland will convert gender-neutral bathrooms back to separate facilities for boys and girls. The move comes in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling and a separate judgment at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
That judgment, delivered in April, followed legal action taken by parents of a pupil at Earlston Primary School in the Scottish Borders. They had challenged the council’s decision to eliminate single-sex facilities and raised wider concerns over the school’s transgender inclusion policies. The judge ruled that state schools must provide separate toilets for boys and girls in accordance with existing legislation.
New data reported by the BBC revealed that 52 schools across 11 council areas in Scotland currently offer only gender-neutral toilet provision. Of those, 10 are in Shetland. Seven local authorities have yet to confirm how they intend to respond to the ruling.
Among those now adjusting provision are councils in Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute and the Scottish Borders. Dumfries and Galloway Council said its legal team was reviewing the ruling before taking further steps. The City of Edinburgh Council also confirmed it was considering changes, with an update expected over the summer.
Meanwhile, five councils — Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, Midlothian and Perth and Kinross — acknowledged having schools without single-sex toilet provision but have not disclosed whether changes are planned. Four others — South Ayrshire, Moray, Stirling and South Lanarkshire — stated that none of their schools offer gender-neutral toilets.
Rosie Walker, partner at Gilson Gray LLP and solicitor for the Earlston parents, welcomed the decision. “This case, alongside the recent Supreme Court judgment, reinforces the importance of safeguarding sex-based rights and ensuring access to single-sex spaces,” she said.
Leigh Hurley and Sean Stratford, the parents who led the legal challenge, said their concerns were dismissed when raised in 2023. Ms Hurley, a pupil support worker at the school, discovered that children could be punished for ‘misgendering’ peers and that the school intended to remove all sex-segregated toilet provision.
The couple ultimately withdrew their son from the school, citing emotional distress. They said they feared similar issues would arise for their younger daughter when she enrolled.
“We’ve won, but common sense says we should never have been in this position in the first place,” said Mr Stratford. “We raised these concerns while the school was still being built.”
Ms Hurley added: “We just want all children to be safeguarded. We empathise with every pupil, but our rights as parents and as a family needed to be respected too.”
The debate around gender-neutral toilets in schools has sparked broader conversations across Scotland around parental consent, safeguarding and the implementation of equality legislation. Further policy responses from local authorities are expected in the coming months.
