29.Submission from Reverend David Horton
I am an Anglican clergyman from the Evangelical
tradition who has been in contact with the transgender community
since 1987. As a result I have had many contacts with transsexual
people and thus in their hopes and fears with regard to the restoration
of their human rights. Accordingly I wish to congratulate those
concerned in drafting this Bill for the quality of their research
and understanding.
Many of the transgendered people with whom I
am and have been involved are Christian believers. As a result
a significant minority of those involved have managed to retain
a relationship with their spouse. I am greatly concerned that
to require divorce as a condition of full recognition is unfair
to such relationships. In particular to the non-transitioning
partner who has made such sacrifices it seems very harsh to insist
on this condition. There may be financial and certainly emotional
penalties to add to the many problems they have managed to overcome.
Obviously theirs is a unique situation but it is hard to envisage
another medical condition where such a condition could be imposed
without enormous public hostility. By my own Christian belief,
for the state to compulsorily break up a family or couple is something
to be avoided both for its own sake and also for the precedent
it might be considered to provide.
Can I therefore suggest that divorce not be
mandatory, but one of the factors taken into account by the panel
in issuing the full revised documentation. Although perhaps 20
per cent of my clients have survived in a relationship, the overall
numbers are a small minority of a small minority, and I would
hope that as with transsexual people themselves our society is
sufficiently compassionate to accommodate the aspirations of this
minority, whose own compassion and support is very praiseworthy.
9 September 2003
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