Let 16-year-olds choose their own gender, say MPs
EVERY person over the age of 16 should be able to change their declared gender at will, MPs said yesterday.
Politicians called for a legal right to switch without the need to consult a doctor or live in their new identity.
A report by the Commons women and equalities committee said people should be able to record their gender as ‘X’ on their passport, and suggested that the State should not keep records which identify people as male or female.
MPs went on to call for it to be a crime to insult transsexuals, and said ministers should reconsider laws that currently give people the right to stop their spouse from legally changing sex.
Even children under 16 might be given the opportunity to change their gender, the report suggested, although the MPs stressed that they were ‘ very cautious’ about the idea.
The document, produced in close co-operation with transgender campaigners, claimed there are 650,000 people in Britain who are ‘likely to be gender incongruent to some degree’.
The figure, which was provided to the committee by a pressure group, is greater than the population of Manchester or Sheffield.
The committee’s chairman Maria Miller – who resigned as Culture Secretary in 2014 following an expenses scandal – said: ‘Fairness and equality are basic British values. Britain leads the world in recognising lesbian, gay and bisexual rights, but despite some welcome progress, we are still failing trans people in so many ways.
‘The committee took evidence on a wide range of issues includ-
‘Morally illiterate’
ing gender recognition and equality legislation, health services, hate crime, courts, education, data protection, official documents and more.
‘Our report challenges attitudes towards trans people calling for them to be treated equally and fairly. Ordinary trans people still endure routine hostility and discrimination.’
The report called for the 2004 Gender Recognition Act – legislation which means people have to consult a doctor and live for two years in the acquired gender before officially switching – to be scrapped.
‘In place of the present medicalised, quasi-judicial application, an administrative process must be developed centred on the wishes of the individual applicant, rather than on intensive analysis by doctors and lawyers,’ the report said.
A new law should also allow for ‘non-binary’ identities other than male or female, MPs insisted. Among other reforms, the 2010 Equality Act should be changed because it uses the words ‘transsexual’ and ‘gender reassignment’ which are ‘outdated and misleading’. The new phrase should be ‘gender identity’, the report said.
But the recommendations provoked an angry reaction from Simon Calvert, of the Christian Institute. He asked: ‘How are we all meant to know what gender someone is if they can change it at will?’
He said transgender people were entitled to the same kindness and respect as anyone else but added: ‘MPs must stop trying to force people to agree with transsexualism itself. This report is morally and scientifically illiterate.’