The Government introduced the Gender Recognition Bill in the House of Lords on 27 November 2003.
The Bill allows transsexual people who have taken decisive steps to live fully and permanently in their acquired gender to gain legal recognition in that gender.
The Bill demonstrates that this Government is committed to understanding and recognising the needs and aspirations of those members of society who are in a minority; committed to securing their rights and committed to their social and legal inclusion. It brings to fruition the work the Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People started in 1999 and honours the Government's commitment to implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and to ensure that transsexual people are given the rights that respect their identity.
Transsexual people, some of whom may have lived in their acquired gender for many years, are not treated as being of that gender in law. They do not have access to any of the rights or responsibilities confined to people of that gender. They are not able to change their birth certificates. They live in a state of limbo, between the gender in which they are living and the gender in which they were born; because that is how the law defines them. The Bill will mean that transsexual people will for the first time be afforded all the rights and responsibilities appropriate to their acquired gender. It is fundamental to an inclusive society that individuals and groups be given the rights to which they are legitimately entitled and wherever possible be allowed to live their lives as they determine. The Bill will give transsexual people the right, from the date of recognition, to marry in their acquired gender and be given birth certificates that recognise the acquired gender. Transsexual people will be able to obtain benefits and State Pension just like anyone else of that gender.
The Gender Recognition Bill applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It applies to Scotland for reserved matters and the Scottish Executive has confirmed that a Sewel motion will be placed before the Scottish Parliament on devolved aspects of the Bill. All parts of the UK must make provision for gender recognition if the UK is to fulfil its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Gender Recognition Bill was published in draft on 11 July 2003 for pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The Committee published its report on the Bill on 20 November 2003 and is on the whole satisfied that the Bill brings the UK into compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People, first set up by the then Home Secretary in April 1999, was reconvened in 2002 to examine the implications of granting full legal status to transsexual people in their acquired gender and report to Government, which they did in July 2002.
On 11 July 2002, the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgments in the cases of Goodwin v the United Kingdom and I v the United Kingdom. The Court found that the United Kingdom had breached the Convention rights of these two transsexual people, under Articles 8 (right to respect for private life) and Articles 12 (right to marry). The judgments imply the right to a revised birth certificate in the transsexual person's new gender (which, in turn implies full recognition). The UK Government has an obligation under international law to secure these Convention rights and freedoms for transsexual people and the Government announced its intention to do so on 13 December 2002. The House of Lords, which considered the Bellinger transsexual marriage case in January, was also assured that the Government would make speedy progress towards implementation.
There is no single common approach in other countries to the transsexual condition and the complex issues it raises. However, all other EU Member States except Ireland already give legal recognition to gender change, as do many other countries in Europe and the Commonwealth and many American States. Most Member States allow marriage in the acquired gender, subject to various thresholds being satisifed and, in some cases, gender reassignment surgery having been performed.
You can contact the Gender Recognition Division of the Department for Constitutional Affairs at Room 502, Selborne House, 54-60 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QT, or by email.