CPS drops guidance that said refusing to fund trans surgery is ‘domestic abuse’

The Crown Prosecution Service has ditched claims that refusing to fund a family member’s ‘sex-swap’ surgery may be considered domestic abuse.

In updated domestic abuse guidance for prosecutors, the section on “Transgender and non-binary identifying victims” no longer states that withholding “money for transitioning” may be considered an example of abuse.

Instead, the guidance emphasises that sharing a family member’s pre-transition images or refusing to use their preferred name can only be considered as part of a wider offence of coercive behaviour if there is intent to cause humiliation or distress. A parent cannot commit such an offence to a child under 16 years old.

Improved

A CPS spokesman acknowledged that it updated the guidance following “feedback from stakeholders”.

“It is important our guidance cannot be misinterpreted and the revisions are intended to make as clear as possible how we will apply the law around domestic abuse so the public can be confident in our approach.”

Women’s Rights Network’s Claire Lonergan welcomed the improvements, but said the group was “disappointed that a significant amount of activist language remains”.

Victory

Last month, a woman who resigned from Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre following a “heresy hunt” over her gender-critical beliefs was vindicated by an Employment Tribunal.

Support worker Roz Adams was subjected to a misconduct investigation, after asking on behalf of a domestic abuse victim if a non-binary staff member was a “man or a woman” because the client felt “uncomfortable talking to a man”.

Employment Judge Ian McFatridge found that senior management used the disciplinary process to “make an example” of Adams because they believed she was “guilty of a heresy in that she did not fully subscribe to the gender ideology”.