Nicola Coughlan raises more than £100,000 for trans charity after gender ruling

Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan has helped raise more than £100,000 for a trans rights charity following the Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman.

The judgment by the UK’s highest court said that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.

Following the news on Wednesday, the Irish star said she was “completely horrified” and “disgusted” by the ruling and said she would match donations up to £10,000 to transgender charity Not A Phase.

The fundraiser has since raised £103,018, with a revised target of £110,000.

On Friday, the Derry Girls and Barbie actress, 38, who has long supported the LGBT+ community, shared the donation page on her Instagram story, saying: “Nearly 100k thanks to you kind and brilliant people so delighted for Not A Phase”.

The fundraiser description reads: “Allies of the Trans and Non Binary Community time to come together.”

The Supreme Court ruling means that transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if “proportionate”.

In response to the ruling, thousands of trans rights protesters gathered in central London on Saturday including groups such as Trans Kids Deserve Better, Pride in Labour, the Front for the Liberation of Intersex Non-binary and Transgender people (Flint) and TransActual.

A rally and march organised by Resisting Transphobia is also taking place in Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon.