Response ID ANON-****-****-*
Submitted to Reform of the Gender Recognition Act
Submitted on 2018-10-21 16:**:**

Your Details
About you
Name:
Ian Jackson

Are you responding as an individual or an organisation?
Individual

Your details or the details of your organisation
Organisation:
Phone number:
Address:
*******
Postcode:
*******

Email address
Email:
******@fyvzl.net

About the Consultation
Additional information (as published in the consultation document)

Questions 1 and 2 - Experiences of Trans Respondents
Question 1: If you are a trans person, have you previously applied, or are you currently applying, for a Gender Recognition Certificate?
Not Answered
If yes, please tell us about your experience of the process. If no, please tell us why you have not applied?:
Not Answered

Question 2: If you are a trans person, please tell us what having Gender Recognition Certificate means, or would mean, to you.
If you are a trans person, please tell us what having Gender Recognition Certificate means, or would mean, to you.:

Questions 3 and 4 - Medical Reports
Question 3: Do you think there should be a requirement in the future for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria?
No
Please explain the reasons for your answer.:
1. Medical care is very difficult and slow to obtain for trans people in the UK.
2. This is a completely unwarranted and intrusive interference with the autonomy of the trans person.

Question 4: Do you also think there should be a requirement for a report detailing treatment received?
No
Please explain the reasons for your answer.:
1. Medical care is very difficult and slow to obtain for trans people in the UK.

2. This is a completely unwarranted and intrusive interference with the autonomy of the trans person.
3. Additionally I understand that these reports are themselves very hard to obtain even if the hurdle of medical care and diagnosis has been cleared.

Question 5 - Evidence
Question 5: (A) Do you agree that an applicant should have to provide evidence that they have lived in their acquired gender for a period of
time before applying?
No
Please explain the reasons for your answer. :
1. The evidential basis of such a requirement would be very difficult. Paper records are not really either available or useful. The evidence of friends and
colleagues is procedurally awkard and obtaining it would be socially difficult, and perhaps require the trans person to out themselves.
2. This would be an unwarranted interference with the certificate applicant's autonomy.
(B) If you answered yes to (A), do you think the current evidential options are appropriate, or could they be amended?:
Not Answered
(D) If you answered no to (A), should there be a period of reflection between making the application and being awarded a Gender Recognition
Certificate?:
No.
The reason for such a period of reflection would be the interests of the applicant. Those interests would be best served by providing proper mental health services
and providing guidance to applicants at the point of application.
It seems to me that it will be very rare that such an application would be made lightly.

Question 6 - Statutory Declaration
Question 6: (A) Do you think this requirement should be retained, regardless of what other changes are made to the gender recognition
system?
Yes
Please explain the reasons for your answer.:
This procedural formality makes clear the importance of the step being undertaken by the applicant for a GRC.
It will also discourage frivolous use by people who want to undermine the GRC system, and provide a mechanism for dealing with any abuse.
No
(C) If you answered no to (A), do you think there should be any other type of safeguard to show seriousness of intent?:
This formulation fails to fully recognise that people's identity may shift over time. While obtaining a GRC is an important step, it should not be irreversible any
more than, say, getting married, or changing one's domicile.
Removing the words "until death" would probably assuage this concern.

Question 7 - Spousal Consent
Question 7: The Government is keen to understand more about the spousal consent provisions for married persons in the Gender
Recognition Act. Do you agree with the current provisions?
No
Please explain the reasons for your answer. If you think the provisions should change, how do you think they should be altered?:
This provision seriously distorts the power relationship in a marriage where one partner is trans. This is unhealthy for the relationship and further entrenches
discrimination against trans people.
This issue should be dealt with in the same way as any other situation where one spouse may say of the other "this is not the person I married": provide
appropriate availability of divorce, ideally without requiring fault.

Question 8 - The Cost of Legal Gender Recognition
Question 8: (A) Do you think the fee should be removed from the process of applying for legal gender recognition?
Yes

Not Answered
(C) What other financial costs do trans individuals face when applying for a gender recognition certificate and what is the impact of these costs?:
Obtaining medical reports can be expensive. If private or unofficial treatment is needed or wanted (perhaps because of insufficient NHS provision) that has to be
paid for.
If the trans person's transitioning leads to stress in their intimate relationships (whether married or not) that can lead to significant extra costs (eg, moving,
divorce, splitting up of possessions, etc.) Likewise, young trans people can face having to move out from their parents', if their parents are not accepting of their
gender identity.

Question 9 - Privacy and Disclosure of Information (Section 22)
Question 9: Do you think the privacy and disclosure of information provisions in section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act are adequate?
No
If no, how do you think it should be changed? :
The legal provision is largely sound. However, it is not enforced. I'm not aware of any succsesful prosections even though breaches (particularly by private sector
organisations) are common.
This section needs to be properly enforced. It should not be seen as a trivial data protection offence. It is a safety issue for trans people.
I have one signifidant comment on the legal text itself. It is not 100% clear that the scope of 22(2)(b) includes the trans person's gender before it becomes the
acquired gender even if the gender transition occurred *after* the official acquired the information: that is, if the information was not "protected information" at the
time it was acquired, but only later became "protected information".

Questions 10 and 11 Impact of Legal Gender Recognition Process (Protected Characteristics)
Question 10: If you are someone who either has, or would want to undergo legal gender transition, and you have one or more of the
protected characteristics, which protected characteristics apply to you? You may tick more than one box.
Please give us more information about how your protected characteristic has affected your views on the GRC application process.:

Question 11: Is there anything you want to tell us about how the current process of applying for a GRC affects those who have a protected
characteristic?
Enter your answer below.:
Borrowing the response text from Sarah Brown which clearly explains my view:
The Equality Act is interpreted by the EHRC and others on the understanding that a trans person’s sex, for the purposes of the Equality Act, is their acquired
gender and that any treatment contrary to this must be done on a case by case basis and be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
The Equality Act’s explanatory notes suggest that a GRC makes no difference to this.
...
When updating the GRA, the opportunity should be taken to amend the Equality Act to make it clear what the existing practice actually is, rather than leaving it
open to finding EHRC guidance and interpreting it through a lawyer, that is: trans women are women, trans men are men and non binary people are valid.
Please see the full text of Sarah Brown's response.

Introduction to Wider Considerations of Impact (Equality Act)
More information (as published in the consultation document)

Question 12 - Impact on Sport (Equality Act)
Question 12: Do you think that the participation of trans people in sport, as governed by the Equality Act 2010, will be affected by changing
the Gender Recognition Act?
No
Please give reasons for your answer.:
I don't think the GRA change will change things here.
This is unfortunate but should not stand in the way of the change to the GRA:
The treatment of trans and intersex people in sport is very very poor. There is a horrific system of policing athlete's bodies. This extends to some female athletes
who are regarded as "too male" or the like. (The IAAF are particulrly bad.).
A root and branch reform of this area of sporting practice, and law (both national law, and sporting law) is needed.

But, the proposed change to the GRA is still a step in the right direction and the problems in sport are so severe and intractable, that it would not be wise to try to
fix both of these things at once.

Question 13 - Impact on Single-sex and Separate-sex Service (Equality Act)
Question 13: (A) Do you think that the operation of the single-sex and separate-sex service exceptions in relation to gender reassignment
in the Equality Act 2010 will be affected by changing the Gender Recognition Act?
No
Please give reasons for your answer.:
GRCs are not generally used, right now, to access single sex facilities - because people do not show their birth certificate to access single sex facilities.
As Sarah Brown says:
The existing gatekeeping around the GRC application process is not acting as any kind fo safety mechanism or barrier to entry for accessing DV services, so
relaxing said gatekeeping should make no appreciable difference.
Not Answered
Please give reasons for your answer.:
n/a
Not Answered
Please give reasons for your answer.:
n/a
Not Answered

Question 14 - Impact on Occupational Requirements (Equality Act)
Question 14: Do you think that the operation of the occupational requirement exception in relation to gender reassignment in the Equality
Act 2010 will be affected by changing the Gender Recognition Act?
No
Please give reasons for your answer.:
I agree with the explanatory notes to the EA2010 on this point.
However, the EA should be amended, probably as part of this amendment to the GRA, to allow *being trans* as an occupational requirement (so that it is possible
to set up a service to trans people provided by trans people).

Question 15 - Impact on Communal Accomodation (Equality Act)
Question 15: Do you think that the operation of the communal accommodation exception in relation to gender reassignment in the Equality
Act 2010 will be affected by changing the Gender Recognition Act?
No
Please give reasons for your answer.:
I agree with Sarah Brown on this question:
See my answer to Q11. I would note, however, that in practice such exemptions have more often than not been used to deny service to “butch” cis women
because someone thinks they look a bit trans.
The language in the Equality Act needs tightening up here. The EHRC did what they could when drafting their guidelines, but the source material constrained
them. The presumption should be one of inclusion, not exclusion. The current law is not at all clear on this.

Question 16 - Impact on the Armed Forces (Equality Act)
Question 16: Do you think that the operation of the armed forces exception as it relates to trans people in the Equality Act 2010 will be
affected by changing the Gender Recognition Act?
No
Please give reasons for your answer.:
A GRC has no bearing on someones combat effectiveness.

Question 17 - Impact on Authorising or Solemnising Marriages (Equality Act)
Question 17: Do you think that the operation of the marriage exception as it relates to trans people in the Equality Act 2010 will be affected
by changing the Gender Recognition Act?
Yes
Please give reasons for your answer.:
I agree with Sarah Brown's answer to this question:
It may. The current exception is effectively that a priest may refuse to solemnise a marriage, essentially if they genuinely believe that one of the people involved
“looks trans”.
Increased publicity around this issue, regardless of what the government ends up doing, may result in this issue coming to the fore.
Previous experience suggests that if and when it does, the person who “looks trans” will most likely actually be cis.

Question 18 - Impact on Insurance Operation (Equality Act)
Question 18: Do you think that the operation of the insurance exception as it relates to trans people in the Equality Act 2010 will be affected
by changing the Gender Recognition Act?
No
Please give reasons for your answer.:
I don't know and am happy to take your word for it.

Question 19 - Impact on Other Public Services (beyond the Equality Act)
Question 19: Do you think that changes to the Gender Recognition Act will impact on areas of law and public services other than the
Equality Act 2010?
No
Please give reasons for your answer. :
Public services do not ask for this kind of paperwork. Instead (if gender is relevant at all) they base their decisons on a person's gender presentation and general
identification documents (which can be in the acquired gender without needing a GRC).
Most law nowadays rightly makes little distinction on the basis of gender.

Question 20 - Non-binary Gender Identities
Question 20: Do you think that there need to be changes to the Gender Recognition Act to accommodate individuals who identify as
non-binary?
Yes
If you would like to, please expand more upon your answer.:
The existing situation of non-binary people is very difficult and serious work is needed to improve it.
At the very least:
* GRCs should be available to legally recognise one or two additional legal genders, including possibly "non-binary" and "not stated". Obviously this will involve
considerable work reviewing existing legislation for problems, but in most cases a general interpretation provision would probably suffice.
* Separately, all data controllers should be required to honour a non-binary person's gender identity, with at a minimum supporting a third value "X". (With an
exception for situations where an M/F gender is required to implement a single-sex service as permitted in the Equality Acte).
Unfortunately the current GRA reform proposals, and hence the consultation, are not very well developed in this area.
The difficulties of non-binary people, while very real, should not be allowed to seriously delay the proposed changes to the GRA to support trans people who
identify as male or female.

Question 21: Experiences of Intersex Respondents
Question 21: (A) Do you have a variation in your sex characteristics?
No
(B) Would removing these requirements be beneficial to you?:

(C) What other changes do you think are necessary to the GRA in order to benefit intersex people? :
See my comments about sport in my answer to Q12.

Question 22 - Any further comments?
Question 22: Do you have any further comments about the Gender Recognition Act 2004?
Yes
If you answered yes, please add your comments.:
The wider ethical and social context of my answer is that gender is generally a very troublesome social institution. It is used for all manner of unwarranted and
unwanted discriminations and causes problems to people who do not, for whatever reason, conform to expected roles.
Over the last several decades we have been working to weaken gender discrimination and promote gender equality.
Reform of the GRA to remove the onerous requirements, is part of weakening the inflexibility of the sociolegal gender system and is a good thing. It will help lead
to more equality.
The public debate on the GRA reform issue has been toxic. The arguments made against reform have generally totally misunderstood the limited function of the
GRA. Many of them are based on trying to perpetuate or entrench existing gender divisions. Insofar as they are made by those who wish to promote the interests
of women, they are seriously misguided.

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Yes