Lesbian groups are being banned from female-only spaces in bid to include men who identify as women, report claims

• Gay women said to be meeting in secret to stop events being ‘invaded by men’
• Research featured women’s testimonies in survey about single-sex spaces
• READ: Group of women resorting to guerrilla tactics to protect single-sex spaces

Lesbian groups are being banned from female-only spaces in a drive to include men who identify as women, according to a new report.

Gay women are said to be meeting in secret to stop their events being ‘invaded by men’ who are attracted to females and claiming to be lesbians.

The research, by feminist campaign group Sex Matters, featured women’s testimonies as part of their UK-wide survey about single-sex spaces.

Entitled ‘Lesbians without liberty: How the UK denies freedom of association to women who love women’, the paper comes at a time of increased debate about female-only spaces.

In the foreword, SNP politician Joanna Cherry warned: ‘Lesbians are being forced back into the closet because we are being told we cannot meet or socialise without including men who identify as women.’

In the foreword, SNP politician Joanna Cherry (pictured) warned: ‘Lesbians are being forced back into the closet because we are being told we cannot meet or socialise without including men who identify as women’

Maya Forstater, director of Sex Matters, said that women have reported how book clubs, discos and drinking nights have disappeared.

She added: ‘This is mirrored online as lesbian dating sites include men who claim they are women. Those who try to state a preference for biological women get thrown out.’

The report suggested lesbian groups were admitting transgender women in a bid to prevent discrimination under the Equality Act. 

Campaigners are urging the Government to clarify the law to ‘protect everyone’s rights’.

The accounts were anonymous and one described how her now-underground lesbian circles had been ‘invaded by men’ since 2010.

Ms Forstater added: ‘These are the stories you think you’d hear from countries in the dark ages of gay rights.’

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