Trans pool player fights ban in landmark women’s sport appeal

PoliticsSports
16 Apr 2026 • 10:31 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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  • Transgender pool player Harriet Haynes is appealing a court decision that upheld her ban from women’s English eight-ball tournaments.
  • Haynes previously lost a discrimination claim after a judge ruled that excluding those not assigned female at birth was necessary for fair competition.
  • Her appeal is expected to be the first case to test the impact of a Supreme Court ruling that defined “woman” under equality law as biologically female.
  • The Supreme Court ruling has already led to wider restrictions for trans women in various sectors, including Girl Guides, Women’s Institutes, some public toilets, and darts.
  • Haynes’s legal team will argue that the ban impacts integrity and fairness, and that the Supreme Court ruling’s implications do not comply with Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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