Allow transgender people to self-define their legal gender

Transgender people in the UK are forced to pay to prove their identity to a Gender Recognition Panel. This process is humiliating, outdated and unnecessary. We urge the government to introduce an act equivalent to the Irish Gender Recognition Act, and allow trans* people to self-define their gender.

Having your gender recognised by the Gender Recognition Panel requires trans* people to go to pointless expense - whether requiring them to pay administration fees (and having to go through the lengthy and underfunded NHS gender transition system) or paying to attend a private clinic to receive the required evidence as well as paying to be seen by the panel.

Furthermore: no provisions are made for non-binary gender identities.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/gender-recognition-panel

The Gender Recognition Process

The general procedural requirements for gaining gender recognition were developed as a result of the Government’s commitment to allowing trans people who have taken decisive steps to live fully and permanently in the acquired gender to gain legal recognition in that gender, by establishing a robust and credible process to determine applications for recognition. The provisions are contained the in the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA).

A person’s gender has important legal and social consequences. The state has a legitimate interest in ensuring that people who take on a new legal status can establish that they meet certain criteria. The required statements and evidence are limited to what is necessary to establish that an applicant meets the criteria for recognition.

There are no requirements for a trans person to apply for legal recognition; it is entirely a personal decision. Many trans people live and work in their acquired gender without feeling it necessary to apply for legal recognition. However, an application for gender recognition should only be made where a person has made a permanent decision to change their gender.

The Gender Recognition Panel, a judicial body, determines all applications for gender recognition and an applicant must prove to the satisfaction of the Panel that they meet all the requirements set out in the GRA. The requirements for applicants going via the standard route are that the applicant:

* has or has had gender dysphoria; * has lived in the acquired gender throughout the two years immediately preceding the date on which the application is made; * intends to continue to live in the acquired gender until death.