Cambridge’s All-Female College Protects Trans Women Despite Backlash

Despite the UK’s Supreme Court ruling on gender, Cambridge University’s women-only college is continuing to welcome trans women. According to The Pink News, Newnham College, founded in 1871, has just created a policy document which permits trans students to access “single-sex” facilities and areas on campus.

This decision comes about six months after For Women Scotland vs Scottish Ministers, a case that ultimately determined that sex is to be defined exclusively as biological sex under the 2010 Equality act. This act provides legal protection from discrimination in society and the workplace.

For Women Scotland (FWS) is a transphobic group that has been working for years to peddle their anti-trans agenda, gaining traction with trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) like JK Rowling—who actually donated around $89,000 dollars to FWS in 2024.

Due to that decision, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recommended that organizations ban trans people from single-gender spaces and services that align with their gender like bathrooms and changing rooms, as well as from some spaces corresponding to “biological sex” as well. Though, the EHRC clarified that this would be arbitrarily decided based on situations where a “reasonable objection” could be made to a transgender person’s appearance.

In response to Newnham College’s supporting of trans women, several transphobic people have come forward attacking Cambridge’s decision. Maeve Halligan, a post-grad who founded a “gender-critical” student group called the Society of Women, responded to the Daily Mail, “The category of woman is being totally usurped, hijacked, and attacked. Sexism is written into the history of Cambridge University, and now it’s come back in disguise.”

The college’s principal, Alison Rose, however, claimed that the policy was “cleared by all lawyers” in a letter to students, affirming that they would continue letting in trans women. Rose writes, “We are open to all female applicants (and) will consider at the admissions stage those applicants who hold a form of formal identification as female, on a current passport, driving license, birth certificate or gender recognition certificate.”