14. Submission from Post-Op Women UK Group
INTRODUCTION
The membership of the Post-Op Women UK Group
have concern that they are either not being represented, or are
being misrepresented on crucial Human Rights issues.
The Post-Op Women UK Group exists to ensure
that post-operative M2F (Male to Female) and I2F (Intersex to
Female) women have a private place to discuss issues of relevance
to post-op women. Mainly concerned with surgical recovery, further
surgery and hormonal regimes, the forum has also provided a safe
environment for the discussion of the Draft Gender Recognition
Bill (excerpts of which are included in the appendices)[36]
The membership of Post-Op Women UK Group is
made up exclusively of postoperative M2F and 12F women without
exception.
OVERVIEW OF
THE DRAFT
GENDER RECOGNITION
BILL
Note. For ease of comprehension, the headers
in this overview correspond directly with the headers in the Draft
Gender Identity Bill.
TITLE: "A BILL
TO MAKE
PROVISION FOR
AND IN
CONNECTION WITH
CHANGE OF
GENDER"
Post-Op Women UK members are and have always
been certain of their gender and would point out that it is the
current "sex" of the individual that requires recognition.
APPLICATIONS FOR
GENDER RECOGNITION
CERTIFICATE
1. Applications
(1) "A person of either gender"—gender?
Sex is the appropriate determination, not gender.
(1) "who is aged at least 18"—Age
discrimination? Post-Operative Women of younger age will be unable
to apply for a "gender recognition certificate"
(2) "the acquired gender"—Sex
is the appropriate determination.
(2)(a) "gender in which the person
is living" and (b) "gender to which the person is recognised
as having changed"—There is no change of gender, the
change is that of sex.
(3) "An application under subsection
(1) is to be determined by a Gender Recognition Panel"—why?
A post-operative M2F will have either an affidavit from their
surgeon, or, a medical certificate can easily be sought from a
GP stating their primary phenotypical sex from an observation
of the external genitalia.
(4)(a) "has or has had gender dysphoria"—gender
dysphoria is a wide term once used to describe a range of conditions,
only one of which was termed "transsexualism". In 1994
the terminology was changed to use the term "gender identity
disorder" which is again subdivided, one of the terms being
the replacement for the term "transsexualism". Also,
"gender dysphoria" would be hard to prove for long term
post-operative women as the original diagnoses and the psychiatrists
who made them are often no longer available.
(4)(b) "has lived in the acquired gender"—gender?
Sex is the appropriate term.
(4)(b) "two years"— many
post-operative M2Fs are post-operative before the "two years"
the generally accepted period is one year except by the NHS, and
some countries allow no period to live in the acquired sex (countries
with laws that expressly forbid this eg Iran) whereas others require
only months of this RLE, eg Thailand.
(4)(c) "intends to continue to live
in the acquired gender until death"—Gender once again
is the incorrect term, sex is appropriate. Also, being postoperative
should be proof enough of any commitment.
(4)(d) "complies with the requirements
imposed by"—Post-operative M2F women feel that the
requirements are vague and meaningless, the documentation that
is needed is that the person making the application is post-operative
only.
(5)(b) "requirements imposed by"—Another
exercise in paper chasing and further discrimination, all that
is required from a post-operative M2F woman is a statement from
a medical practitioner that she is postoperative.
2. Evidence
(l) (a) and (b) these requirements are irrelevant,
a post-operative M2F woman should only be required to provide
documentation from a medical practitioner to the effect that she
is post-operative.
(2) "gender dysphoria"—again,
this wide term is being applied.
(2) "report required"—this
will be difficult for any long term post-operative M2F woman to
produce, and is seen as irrelevant.
(3) "If the applicant has undergone"—This
section is irrelevant for a postoperative M2F woman and should
not be required other than a medical report stating that she is
post-operative.
(4)(a) "that the applicant meets the
conditions"—the only condition needing to be met is
that a post-operative M2F woman is post-operative.
(4)(b) "as to whether or not the applicant
is married"—possible breach of Article 12. The UK Government
having encouraged post-operative M2F women to marry other women,
using financial advantages such as tax benefits etc, is in a difficult
position to now require that an existing marriage is dissolved
so that a basic human right can be conferred to the post-operative
M2F woman. Existing family ties will be broken, and the partners
and children of the post-operative M2F women may be financially
disadvantaged.
(5)(a) "if the applicant is not married,
a statutory declaration by the applicant that this is the case"—Why,
this is irrelevant. However, post-operative M2F women who are
not married (the majority) will be able to comply with this requirement.
(5)(a) "genders"—Marriage
certificates don't record the gender of the individuals, however,
the sex at the time of the marriage is implied.
(6) "Any application under section
1(1) must include
(6)(a) the applicant's birth certificate"—This
is difficult for post-operative M2F women to provide, either for
psychological reasons in that it would be a reminder of "transsexualism"
once suffered, thus causing distress, or, for the simple reason
that most post-operative M2F women do not have a copy of their
birth certificate and would never acquire one for reasons of safety
if found with that birth certificate.
(9)(a) "must supply any other evidence
which the Gender Recognition Panel which is to determine the application
may require"—This is an open ended method of further
requiring the post-operative M2F woman to undergo unnecessary
and humiliating scrutiny that may cause further psychological
distress.
3. Certificates
The production of these gender recognition certificates
is seen as an irrelevancy by post-operative M2F women as all that
is required is a corrected birth certificate, entry in the register
of births, and the changing of all records held by all government
departments, together with a requirement for non-governmental
organisations to change their records.
(3) "because of the applicant's marriage,
a full gender recognition certificate has not been issued"—Breach
of Article 12?
(5) "the applicant may make an application
for a full gender recognition certificate at any time within the
period of six months"—why six months? This is irrelevant.
The rest of this section maybe in breach of Article 12.
(6) "An application under subsection
(5) must include evidence of the annulment or dissolution of marriage
. . . "—Possible breach of article 12.
(8)(b) "otherwise must reject it"—Possible
breach of Article 12.
4. Supplementary
(2) "The applicant must pay to the
Secretary of State's—human rights in exchange for payment?
Post-operative M2F women have long suffered from the failure of
successive governments to implement adequate legislation, at great
financial cost. Requirement to further pay for basic human rights
is insulting.
5. General
(1) "Where a full gender recognition
certificate is issues to a person, the person's gender becomes
for all purposes the acquired gender"—This section
sound ridiculous, however, if sex is substituted for gender the
section makes sense.
6. Registration
Dealt with under Schedule 2.
7. Marriage
Dealt with under Schedule 3.
8. Parenthood
(1) "The fact that a person's gender
has become the acquired gender"—incorrect use of gender
when meaning sex.
(1) "under this Act does not affect
the status of the person as the father or mother of a child"—This
is a confused statement which could be better expressed by the
addition of "existing" before "father", otherwise,
children adopted after the recognition of the acquired sex, or
those born by method of medical intervention (eg womb transplant),
will have two parents of the same sex as parents on their birth
certificates.
9. Discrimination
No inclusion of a section preventing the discrimination
with regard to goods and services relating to post-operative M2F
women. This is a serious error.
10. Succession etc
There are no problems foreseen with this section.
11. Peerages etc
(a) "does not affect the descent of
any peerage or dignity or title of honour—This section provides
for the continuing discrimination of women by the government and
will in time be resolved in the European Courts if ever a case
arises.
12. Trustees and personal representatives
There are no problems foreseen with this section.
13. Orders where expectation defeated
There are no problems foreseen with this section.
14. Prohibition on disclosure of information
(4) This section highlights when disclosure
is permitted, post-operative M2F women challenge the requirement
for any disclosure under any conditions.
(5) This section allows a Secretary of State
to allow disclosure to anyone at some future date. It is unacceptable.
15. Orders and regulations
There are no problems foreseen with this section.
16. Money
(2) Fees provided for the acquisition of
human rights?
17. Interpretation
"the acquired gender"—Acquired
sex.
"gender dysphoria"—unacceptable
definition, gender dysphoria is an old term used to denote many
disorders, only one of which is transsexualism. By using the term
gender dysphoria, anyone will be able to apply.
18. Commencement
There are no problems foreseen with this section.
19. Applications within six months of commencement
(2)(a) and (b) Why both? (a) or (b) would
be better else this will lead to discrimination against post-operative
M2F women in favour of "non-op" M2F women and transvestites.
(2)(b) "six years"—Age discrimination
against those who have only just reached an age at which they
were permitted to obtain a change of sex by surgical means.
If this section had only applied to post-operative
M2F women and postoperative F2M men, the six year rule need not
be relevant.
(3)(l)(a) and (b) These reports are expensive
and difficult to obtain. The only documentation needed should
be the report from a medical practitioner stating that the post-operative
M2F woman is post-operative.
(3)(2) It is not always possible to obtain
such a report so long after the initial diagnosis was made.
(3)(3) Only a report from a medical practitioner
stating that the applicant is post-operative should be required
for post-operative M2F women.
20. Short Title
"This Act may be cited as the Gender Recognition
Act 2003"
The problem with this is that post-operative
M2F women are expecting a "Sex Reassignment Recognition Act"
and hence many have not been consulted or are even aware of the
implications the "Gender Recognition Act 2003".
Post-operative M2F women are concerned that
they are being misrepresented by people who are not post-operative
M2F women, or have not fully adjusted to their acquired sex.
SCHEDULES
SCHEDULE 1
Gender Recognition Panels
Many post-operative M2F women have questioned
the need for gender recognition panels, when a simple check that
a person has documentary evidence of a change of sex is all that
is required.
Post-operative M2F women also question the inclusion
of medical members of the gender recognition panel as the medical
member may have been responsible for the medical care of the applicant
as a former patient.
SCHEDULE 2
Registration
Transsexual Persons Register
The "transsexual persons register"
is a concept that is offensive to post-operative M2F women and
will lead to many not registering for fear that the register could
be used against them at some future date.
Of particular concern is the access to such
a register when organisations such as the Evangelical Alliance
have over a million members and would no doubt have members who
would be able to access the information. Post-operative women
fear for their safety.
The fear that cross-indexing of new databases
may lead to the identity of post-operative M2F women is also of
grave concern and we feel that this is another contravention of
Article 8.
SCHEDULE 3
Marriage
Section 5 (g) and (h)—Many post-operative
M2F women will not disclose information on their struggles to
be recognised as a member of their corrected sex to anyone. Other
than a requirement to tell a prospective husband that the person
is sterile, there is no need for further disclosure.
Also, this section could mean that even though
a disclosure is made as to the gender recognition of an individual,
the phenotypical sex of the person could be hidden until after
a marriage, at which point the phenotypical sex would be discovered
to be opposite to that desired by the husband and he would have
no recourse.
Areas of concern to Post-Operative M2F Women
(1) Gender?
Recognition of Sex and a birth certificate indicating
the corrected sex, not Gender.
(2) Gender Recognition Panel
Concerns over who will be on this panel.
(3) Under 18s
Concerns that under 18s cannot have their birth
certificates amended.
Concerns that when someone reaches 18 they will
not be able to have changed their name legally until they are
18, and this could be taken as not living in role.
(4) Fathers
M2F transsexuals who take up womb implant and
bear children will still be classified as fathers rather than
mothers.
Adoption, M2F transsexuals would be treated
as fathers, and if they were married then the child would have
two fathers.
(5) Statutory Declarations
Why is medical evidence alone not acceptable?
(6) Register of Transsexual People
Concerns over the very existence of such as
register and who will have access.
(7) Qualifying period of two years in "role"
Post-ops who have lived in role for less than
two years will be treated as members of their original birth sex,
in direct contravention to the ECHR judgements in Goodwin and
I
(8) Pre-existing marriage
Forced dissolution of marriage.
(9) Existing copies of registers in circulation
Prevention of cross-indexing needed.
(10) Identity theft of birth certificate
left in circulation
The old birth certificate needs to be struck
from the register to prevent identity theft.
(11) National Insurance Numbers.
Of special interest to computer contractors
who come under 1R35 as agencies keep NlN record.
And, a person having transitioned in childhood
will end up having two years or more of contributions in the incorrect
name until they can legally change their birth certificate.
September 2003
36 Not printed. Back
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