Earlier this week Conservative equalities minister Liz Truss set out her plan for reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, causing alarm for LGBTQ+ campaigners and parents of transgender children. Tara Pilkington reports.
This week the UK’s equalities minister, Liz Truss, said during a virtual session of the women and equalities select committee on April 22 that she wants to protect under-18’s from “irreversible” decisions about their gender.
Truss said: “I believe strongly that adults should have the freedom to lead their lives as they see fit, but I think it’s very important that while people are still developing their decision-making capabilities that we protect them from making those irreversible decisions.”
Many LGBTQ+ activists have expressed their concerned and distress following these comments, as this could potentially affect access to counselling and medical provisions for gender-questioning children and teens who often use puberty blockers ahead of deciding whether to start hormone therapy.
Mermaids, a charity which offers support for trans and gender-questioning youth and their families, have said in a statement:
“It would be an extraordinary move for the minister for women and equalities to support the introduction of a new form of inequality into British medical practice, by effectively treating transgender teenagers as less capable than their cisgender peers.
“We believe that transgender young people should have the same right to make important personal decisions as non-trans people.
“Furthermore, we must question why Ms Truss is making a statement about clinical pathways while answering a question on the Gender Recognition Act, which has no bearing on medical care.”
Healthcare for trans kids often includes psychological support and family counselling and can also include access to puberty-blocking medication when trans children approach puberty.
Trans youth need access to the appropriate care and information, especially at the start of their journey in understanding who they are and how they identify, and should be able to receive this care in an informed and supportive manner.
The Gender Recognition Act was implemented in the UK in 2004, marking a significant step for trans rights, giving trans people the opportunity to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) that legally recognised their gender identity.
For those who wish to obtain a GRC, they must first receive a mental health diagnosis of gender dysphoria, despite the fact that this has not been considered a mental illness in the UK since 2002. After this, a panel then decides upon each case, however, they never meet the applicants.
According to the government, only 4,910 people have legally changed their gender in the UK, indicating that the current process is inaccessible for a lot of trans people who may wish to go through this process.
However, it’s been 16 years since its introduction, and despite more than 53,000 people taking part in a comprehensive public consultation on reforms to the GRA in 2018, the government is still yet to published these responses.
https://twitter.com/Mermaids_Gender/status/1253017151977525249
- Read a transcript of Liz Truss’s full comments at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/minister-for-women-and-equalities-liz-truss-sets-out-priorities-to-women-and-equalities-select-committee
