Gender nonconforming cis women in the U.K. are reporting increased incidents of having their presence in womens bathrooms and changing rooms challenged since the countrys anti-trans Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.If youre masculine-presenting or butch lesbian, womens toilets are not a safe space. Ive been spat on, screamed at and its just so sad that this looks likely to get worse, one woman told the Guardian. The looks of hate, the feeling that you just dont know if youre going to be safe, have really got worse since the ruling, to the extent I now either ask a friend to come in with me or use the disabled toilet, which I feel bad about because its preventing them from accessing it. Related Cops burst into womens restroom to remove butch lesbian, accusing her of being a man In a story published August 12, the outlet spoke to several cisgender women who, for one reason or another, do not fit rigid expectations of traditional feminine appearance. Each said they have been confronted, and in some cases harassed, in women-only spaces by bystanders who questioned their gender. Caz Coronel, a composer and producer, said she was recently confronted while waiting in line for the womens restroom at a concert venue by a man who insisted she belonged in the line for the mens room. He kept harassing her about waiting for the womens room until she told him, Do you want to see my tits? Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today I have short hair and dont mind if people think I look male. Ive often been called Sir, but when they see my face, they either apologize or ask me politely what I like to be called. But Ive never had anyone approach me before in such a publicly aggressive way, she said. What then flashed through my mind was: Is this what this ruling has done?According to the outlet, many said they have noticed an escalation in these encounters since the Supreme Court ruling in April, which found that the legal definition of a woman under the countrys 2010 Equality Act is based on biological sex. Claire Prihartini, a breast cancer survivor who got a bilateral mastectomy, said that she was harassed in the changing room of a public pool. I was standing with my top off in front of the mirror putting on my swimming cap, she recounted. Another woman walked in, gasped audibly, and said: Theres a man in here! I said: Oh, Im not a man in a friendly way, then she said aggressively: You look like a man, there arent meant to be men in here and continued to look at my body. I didnt want to engage with her any further, so I just walked off into the pool.Prihartini said that while the experience wasnt massively traumatic, it shocked me that someone felt empowered in the moment to question someone elses gender so rudely, that its becoming normalized. As the Guardian notes, shortly after the ruling, the Equality and Human Rights Commission released an interim update on how the decision should be interpreted, suggesting that trans people should be banned from using public facilities that align with their gender identity. At the time, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden told the BBC that there would not be toilet police in the country, But that is the logical consequence of the court ruling and the EHRC guidance.Critics of anti-trans bathroom bans have long argued that, apart from being cruel and discriminatory, these measures would also likely subject cisgender women and girls to increased policing of their appearance. Those fears seem to be becoming a reality in both the U.S. and the U.K.Both Taranjit Chana of LGBTQ+ anti-violence organization Black and Brown Rainbow and Bridget Symonds of LGBTQ+ anti-abuse charity Galop told the Guardian that their organizations have seen an uptick in reports from queer and gender-diverse people who have had their gender challenged in public restrooms in recent months. Weve seen instances where LGBT+ people are being challenged and verbally abused when attempting to access toilets in public spaces, such as pubs, Symonds said. Were hearing from cisgender lesbians who have been questioned about their gender in public toilets, something happening even before the ruling.Chana noted that women of color face particular scrutiny.Womens toilets have never felt entirely safe for black and brown women, because we dont fit that binary way of looking, Chana said. In some communities, facial hair is part of who we are, but in public toilets people stare and feel it is acceptable to make remarks because we dont fit a narrow, European version of female.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.