19.Submission from A and B[51]
1. My partner and I would like to record
our warmest thanks to everyone who has played a part in drafting
the Gender Recognition Bill.
2. We both endorse the concerns and recommendations
raised in the submission presented by Press For Change on behalf
of transsexual people.
3. I was born in Ohio, USA to English parents,
and therefore hold an American birth certificate. Ohio is one
of only three American states which do not yet have legislation
in place to issue new birth certificates to transsexual people.
I understand that I will be able to obtain a Gender Recognition
Certificate, and therefore will enjoy the protection of law, but
will not, of course, be able to obtain a replacement Birth Certificate.
This does mean that I will still have to disclose my status at
any time I have to show the Gender Recognition Certificate eg
to prospective employers and other officials where proof of identity
is demanded. I live in a very rural area of the country where
attitudes are quite different to an urban area, and this disclosure
makes me very vulnerable to prejudice.
4. I therefore ask if it is possible to
produce the GRC in a format that appears so similar to a UK birth
certificate that it will satisfy the need for proof of identity
without arousing suspicion?
5. I welcome the penalties proposed if a
person's privacy is compromised disclosure of status. In addition
I would like to see further more included in the Bill for indiscriminate,
malicious or serial disclosure.
11 September 2003
51 Full names not printed. Back
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