Reform of the Gender Recognition Act – Report Summary

Summary

Nearly two decades on from its enactment, calls have been made, repeatedly, by some, for the Government to modernise and simplify the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) 2004. However, concerns about the potential implications of a simplified GRA has led others to oppose moves to change the Act.

Following recommendations made by our predecessor Committee in 2016, and findings from the 2017 National LGBT Survey, in July 2018, the Government, under the leadership of the then Prime Minister, Rt Hon Theresa May MP, launched a public consultation on reforming the GRA in England and Wales. She said that, as part of this reform, she wanted to “see a process that is more streamlined and de-medicalised - because being trans should never be treated as an illness”.¹

Two years after the consultation was launched, the Minister for Women and Equalities set out the steps she would take to reform the gender recognition process. These steps included placing the process online, reducing the fee to £5, and opening at least three new gender identity clinics. We launched our inquiry soon after. From the launch of the Government’s consultation, transgender people were led to believe that the legal gender recognition process might be updated to become streamlined and de-medicalised.

We ensured that we took oral evidence from stakeholders with a range of views, including trans rights groups and women’s rights groups, to ensure we heard arguments both for and against reform, and concerns with other areas including the Equality Act 2010. We are aware that debate in this area has sometimes become extremely toxic, and that many stakeholders disagree on elements of GRA reform. There are, however, areas within the Act where some stakeholders agree. For example, removing the requirement for an applicant to live in the acquired gender for two years, which only entrenches outdated gender stereotypes. The Government should remove this requirement immediately.

We used this inquiry to not only examine the Government’s response to the GRA consultation but to explore what we believe reform of the GRA should look like. The requirement of a diagnosis for gender dysphoria in order to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) should be removed, moving the process closer to a system of self-declaration.

We have carefully considered the arguments for and against the spousal consent provision. The choice to transition by one spouse can, for some, fundamentally change the nature of the relationship and the marriage contract. The spousal consent provision should be removed in favour of a new approach, where a full GRC can be issued at the same time as an annulment, if necessary.

We also recommend a review be conducted of whether the Gender Recognition Panel could be removed and replaced with the Registrar General for England and Wales. In the interim, more needs to be done to improve the transparency around the operation and role of the Panel.

We reiterate our predecessor Committee’s recommendation for better guidance on the single-sex and separate-sex exceptions and urge the Government Equalities Office and Equality and Human Rights Commission to publish guidance immediately, using worked examples and case studies. We also recommend that language used across both the GRA and Equality Act be updated to ensure consistency.

We were also keen to explore some of the wider issues affecting transgender people. We recommend that the Government Equalities Office and Department for Health and Social Care should develop a healthcare strategy for transgender and non-binary people within the next year. We are extremely concerned that the Government Equalities Office appears to have abandoned the LGBT Action Plan and we urge the Government to commit to continuing to implement the Plan across all departments.

Footnotes

1 Government Announces Plans to Reform Process of Changing Legal Gender”, Government Equalities Office press release, 3 July 2018.