MPs recommended that Transgender people are allowed to self-declare who they are, in spite of campaigners’ warnings that this would lead to single sex spaces.
In a report, the Woman and Equalities Committee stated that legal transition is unfair and medicalized.
The report recommends that several current requirements are removed, including the need to be living in the required gender for two years before a person can legally transition.
A suggestion was made that a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), which requires a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, be removed.
Instead, MPs called for a new system of ‘self-declaration’, despite warnings from women’s rights campaigners and legal experts that this could jeopardise single-sex spaces, which are also protected under the law.
Caroline Nokes (chair of The Woman and Equalities Committee) has called for the government’s acceptance to self-declare trans persons
Fair Play for Women Director Dr Nicola Williams explained to the committee that self identification could enable a male to receive a birth certificate confirming they were born a woman without needing to demonstrate.
She claimed that this would be also incompatible with The Equalities Act which states that single sex spaces must be based solely on birth sex.
She said self-indication would make it impossible to implement single sex spaces, adding: ‘If there is a separate law that allows people to hide the fact of their birth sex, there is an incompatibility. There can’t be two laws that are at odds.
Rosa Freedman, University of Reading Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development, said that self-identification “allows people to self-ID and gain access to women’s spaces”.
But, in spite of all the resistance, The committee stated the process is moving closer to a system for self-declaration, by taking out’medical scrutiny’ and adding’strong legal protections.
It stated that it was pPeople should be required to sign a formal statutory statement that demonstrates their ‘genuine intention’.
Fair Play for Women Director Dr Nicola Williams explained to the committee that self identification could enable a male to receive a certificate of birth stating they were born a woman without needing to provide proof.
The MPs also stated that If it is found that the individual had no intent to live in the acquired gender, it will be possible for them to face criminal prosecution.
Caroline Nokes (Conservative MP) was the chairwoman of the committee. She stated that “The GRA is screaming for modernization and it has been spectacularly missed by Government.”
Transgender people are not an incurable disease. This is why it’s imperative for the government to remove the need for gender dysphoria diagnoses and de-medicate gender recognition.
According to a spokesperson for Government Equality Hub, the Government feels that current Gender Recognition Act provisions are legal and will allow anyone to legally alter their gender.