Status: 🔴 Drove anti-trans policy at the UK’s national human rights institution for five years (2020–2025). Exposed in 2026 for lying to GANHRI about working with trans civil society organizations on healthcare.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner of Margravine (born 9 March 1955) served as Chair of the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) from December 2020 to November 2025. Appointed under Liz Truss as Minister for Women and Equalities, her tenure saw the EHRC shift sharply away from trans rights advocacy and toward a gender-critical agenda. She was succeeded by Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson in December 2025.
One of Falkner’s first acts as Chair was withdrawing the EHRC from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions employment scheme, signaling a break with trans-inclusive workplace standards.
The EHRC under Falkner intervened in Forstater v Centre for Global Development Europe, supporting the position that gender-critical beliefs are protected philosophical beliefs — a case widely seen as legitimizing anti-trans activism in UK employment law.
Falkner pushed guidance that would ban trans people from single-sex facilities consistent with their gender identity, claiming trans people had “not lost any rights” despite the practical exclusion this created. The guidance was criticized as rushed (initially a two-week consultation period) and unlawful by civil liberties group Liberty.
In 2023, facing a special review by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) Sub-Committee on Accreditation, Falkner submitted a written defense claiming the EHRC was developing a “package of work” with civil society organizations to support trans people’s access to healthcare. She stated:
“We have identified access to healthcare as an area of work where we and civil society organisations (CSOs) could work effectively together to support trans people. We are currently developing proposals for a package of work on these issues, and we will be seeking to engage CSOs as this progresses.”
A Freedom of Information request by The Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy (TACC) in 2026 revealed:
Despite these false claims, GANHRI’s Sub-Committee on Accreditation closed its special review of the EHRC in 2024, accepting Falkner’s assurances at face value.
Falkner was born in Pakistan and moved to the UK in 1976. She studied International Relations at the London School of Economics and earned an MA from the University of Kent. She was created a life peer in 2004, initially sitting as a Liberal Democrat before becoming a crossbencher. She served as chairman of the House of Lords European Union Financial Affairs Sub-Committee from 2015 to 2019.