Trans people won’t get right to ‘self-identify’ as sex of their choice
PLANS to allow people to change their legal gender and ‘self-identify’ as a different sex have been scrapped following concerns about the policy.
Ministers have ditched proposals developed under Theresa May’s government to let transgender people change their birth certificates without a medical diagnosis.
But ‘ gay cure’ therapies offered by church groups and other therapists will be banned, the Sunday Times reported.
New protections will be offered to safeguard female-only spaces, including refuges and public lavatories, to stop them being used by those with male anatomy.
The plans are likely to cause fresh controversy after author JK Rowling faced fury from trans activists after she tweeted criticism of the phrase ‘people who menstruate’. The developmentcomes after years of debate following a public consultation on the issue.
A paper on the plans is ‘ basically ready’ and is pencilled in for publication at the end of July before MPs go on their summer break, according to the Sunday Times. Liz Truss, the equalities minister, will publish the details in an official response to a public 2018 consultation on the Gender Recognition Act.
Proposals for people to selfidentify their gender will be abandoned and those wanting to change their birth certificate will still need medical approval.
Two doctors will still need to sign off a gender change but there will be a crackdown on ‘quack’ doctors to ensure that only reputable medics can give approvals.
New guidelines on lavatory provision are likely to be introduced, replacing the rights of councils to set their own rules, which has seen a rise in genderneutral lavatories.
Polls suggest voters are sympathetic to trans rights but do not support transgender women with male anatomy accessing female- only facilities such as prisons and changing rooms.
Sources told the paper that Boris Johnson’s aides came close to announcing the change during the General Election campaign and again before the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 100,000 responses were received to the consultation. Insiders say about 70 per cent agreed that anyone should be able to declare that they are a woman or a man – but they believe the results were skewed by an avalanche of responses from trans rights groups.
The plans will provide a challenge for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer whose party is deeply divided on the issue.
He was the only leadership candidate not to sign a Labour Campaign for Trans Rights pledge which branded feminists ‘transphobic’ and said the party should ‘ fight against’ them. Instead he signed a list of pledges including a commitment to ‘introduce a self-declaration process’ for transgender people.
Under current rules those wanting to change their gender pay £140 and apply to a panel for a gender recognition certificate.
They have to produce two medical reports that they have suffered from gender dysphoria.
They are also required to show that they have lived in their chosen gender identity for two years and intend to do so for the rest of their lives.
Feminist groups who argue that trans rights infringe women’s rights are likely to support the new plans.
A source told the Sunday
‘No hippie quack doctors’ ‘Go through much greater sign-off’
Times: ‘ You’re not going to be able to march in and find a hippie quack doctor who is willing to say you’re a woman. That’s not going to happen.
‘There will be big moves on safe spaces and women- only toilets and a total ban on all “gay-cure” therapies.’
Miss Truss has already strengthened advice on medical procedures for under-18s which have irreversible effects on their fertility.
‘She’s made it more difficult for people to get that treatment easily,’ the source said. ‘It has to go through much greater sign-off.’
A spokesman for the Government’s equalities office confirmed last night that it will publish its response to the consultation on the Gender Recognition Act this summer.
They added: ‘The minister for women and equalities has also made clear that she will be bringing forward plans end conversion therapy shortly.’