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2.15 pm
Mr. Roger Sims (Chislehurst): In 21 years as a Member of Parliament, I had not encountered the issues raised in the Bill. Last year, however, I had two constituency cases of people in this condition whom I tried to help. When I went to the Conservative party conference this year, I noticed that one of the fringe meetings, arranged by an organisation called Press for Change, was about the medical and legal implications of transsexuality.
I admit that I went to the meeting with a mixture of curiosity and scepticism. My views on homosexuality, for example, might be described as conventional and I find the expression "gay priests" a contradiction in terms. However, I soon learned that transsexuality was something very different. We are talking about people where nature did not get it quite right--where nature made a mistake.
A transsexual is defined as a person
One of the doctors at the meeting said that we were talking about a man in a woman's body, or vice versa. It is a condition that is capable of medical treatment, although not in every case. I was impressed by the extent and the detail of the treatment that can be given. Transsexuality is a recognised medical condition which can be treated successfully through gender reassignment, enabling the individual to lead a full and normal life.
The meeting was organised by a lady who was attending the Conservative party conference as a representative. She represented her constituency, where she is active in the party. She is a branch secretary, chairman of her supper club and typical of the ladies whom many of my hon. Friends know in their constituencies. Yet her birth certificate shows her as a man and she cannot legally marry. If she applies for a job, her birth certificate will have to be produced and the House will appreciate what might follow from that.
Mr. Kevin Barron (Rother Valley):
I congratulate the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile) on his good fortune in the ballot for private Members'
There is much debate within parts of the medical and legal communities about the status of transsexuals, and the issue should be addressed. I have been in the House longer than the hon. Member for Chislehurst (Mr. Sims), and over the past few years, I have often had dealings with a transsexual in my constituency.
Medical knowledge about the condition, which is known as gender identity dysphoria, has changed dramatically over the years. Much more is known today about both the syndrome and the methods of diagnosis and treatment, which are far in advance of those available when it was first identified in the 1950s.
Biological evidence and indicators can be examined to assist in determining cases of gender dysphoria, and hormonal treatments and surgical techniques, together with therapy and counselling, can help an individual to cope with the physical and psychological effects of having an incongruent body. Studies of the effects of adopting that approach suggest that success rates for individuals who have undergone appropriate treatment are better than 90 per cent.
Although medical advances have helped individuals to come to terms with the syndrome, the law has not kept up with those developments. British law is now out of step with that of many of our European neighbours, and in law those who have undergone reassignment treatment are still identified as their previous sex, not their present sex. The law takes no account of their lives in permanently changed gender roles.
Clearly, that leads to problems. The case has been made in the debate that the law on the status of transsexuals is too inflexible. In Europe, recognition has already been given. The European Court of Justice said:
Legislators, too, must recognise that.
The European Court has also ruled that discrimination against transsexuals in employment is contrary to European law, so the United Kingdom Government may soon have to introduce legislation to correct that failure. That being the case, the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery has suggested that other parts of the law should be brought into line too. Such a change would put this country on a par with many of our European counterparts. Even if that change is not brought about through the Bill, it will still have to be made some time, if we are to return to a coherent law on discrimination.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. John Horam):
In introducing the Bill, the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile) drew an analogy between my political progress and the situation of transsexuals. I am flattered by being associated with what he clearly regards as a noble cause, but it is a little dangerous for him to make such comparisons, because those of us who are firmly on one side of the House or another have always regarded the Liberal Democrats as thoroughly confused, unable to make up their minds whether they are on the left or the right. If one is in a glass house, it is a little dangerous to throw stones.
None the less, I congratulate the hon. and learned Gentleman on his success in the ballot, and on bringing forward for debate a Bill that attempts to tackle such fundamental and important issues. I am sorry that it is now 2.23 pm on a Friday; perhaps it would have been better to have debated the measure earlier in the day--but such was not his luck.
The purpose of the Bill is to grant recognition of change of sex for all purposes to anyone who, under the terms of the Bill, has undergone gender reassignment treatment and has obtained a recognition certificate from the High Court, provision for which the hon. and learned Gentleman makes in the Bill. The Bill makes provision for medical, judicial and administrative procedures to facilitate the change, culminating in the issue by the Registrar-General of a birth certificate in the new sexual identity.
People who undergo gender reassignment treatment are commonly referred to as transsexuals, although I am aware that many prefer the term gender dysphoria. They are biologically of one sex, but feel themselves to be of the other. Transsexuals may undergo hormone treatment and, in many cases, gender reassignment surgery.
The Government are sympathetic to the distress felt by transsexuals, and we have tried to smooth the transition from one gender identity to the other. Gender reassignment operations are permitted without any kind of legal formalities. The surgery and treatment may be carried out under the NHS--[Interruption.] That is the case.
The law entitles any person to adopt such first names and surnames as he or she wishes without any restrictions or formalities, except in connection with the practice of some professions where the use of the new names may be subject to certain formalities. The new names are valid for the purposes of legal identification, and Government Departments and the agencies concerned will issue documents such as passports, driving licences, car registration books, national insurance cards and medical cards in the new name.
That has helped the progress of transsexuals and mitigates the obvious problems and distress associated with their position. The Bill would move the recognition process a further step on to relate it to the change of sex, rather than to the personal and legal identification that has been the focus of the present position.
The hon. and learned Gentleman is aware from our discussions that his Bill, sadly, is defective in a number of respects. None the less, I can assure him that the Government recognise the importance of the issues that he has raised. We take them seriously, and we shall carefully
consider the issues raised by the Bill. To that extent,I believe that, even though the Bill has had a relatively short time to be debated today, it has fulfilled a useful purpose in taking the argument on to a further stage.
Mrs. Edwina Currie (South Derbyshire):
Does my hon. Friend realise that, despite his litany of permitted changes in documentation, he has not yet set out a good argument as to why that should not include birth certificates?
Mr. Horam:
That is one of the points that I want to come to. The changing of a birth certificate is one of the problems that the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery recognised during our discussions. I am sorry to say that, while the Bill makes a credible effort, it does not overcome something that the Registrar-General sees as a real problem.
"having the physical characteristics of one sex and the psychological characteristics of the other."
"The law cannot cut itself off from society as it actually is".
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