Call for ‘X’ gender option on passports
BRITISH travellers should not be forced to declare whether they are male or female – to end discrimination against those who don’t identify as either gender, according to MPs.
They want passports to include an “X” option as well as the existing male and female choices.
Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell is among those calling for change.
It’s one example of growing support at Westminster for a change in the law on gender.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has urged the government to allow people to “self-identify” their gender, allowing them to access services for men or women based on what they consider themselves to be.
Northumberland MP Mr Campbell is one of 35 MPs to sign a Commons motion calling for the “X” category to be added to passports.
The MPs said: “People are compromised and diminished as a result of inappropriate gender references on their personal identity information.”
They continued: “All passports issued by HM Passport Office are currently gender specific and it is therefore not possible to obtain a British passport that contains no reference to gendered identity.”
Malta, Australia and New Zealand already allow citizens to get “a non gender-specific X passport”, the MPs said.
“Similar provision is needed in the UK, where current discriminatory policy denies non-gendered and bigendered people a legitimate identity.”
Pressure for changes to the law have grown since MPs on the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee published a report in 2015.
At the moment, the Equality Act 2010 protects transexual people from discrimination.
They can take legal action in the same way as people who are victims of sex discrimination, racism or discriminated against because they are disabled.
But they would need to prove that they are legally considered to be transexual, as set out in the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which means they have been diagnosed as having a medical condition known as gender dysphoria.
The inquiry said this should be scrapped and people should be able to say they identify as male or female. They would then have a legal right to be treated as members of that gender.
And Mr Corbyn called for a change in the law last week, saying: “The Gender Recognition Act does not allow trans people to self-identify their gender and forces them to undergo invasive medical tests.”
He told Prime Minister Theresa May: “Labour will help you keep your promise. Bring forward a Bill to update the Act and improve trans rights and Labour will back you.”
Speaking at a Downing Street reception, Mrs May suggested the law could be changed.
She said: “While homophobic bullying may be in decline, we know that transphobic bullying remains a very serious problem.
“That is why the government is reviewing the Gender Recognition Act and we hope to make an announcement very soon on the action we will take to reform it by making it less medical and less intrusive.”