The Gender Recognition Act 2004

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) a law that gives transgender people the right to live in their acquired gender with a matching birth certificate, everything but a birth certificate can be updated on self ID with a supporting letter from a gender identity clinic (GIC) or GP.

When it comes to birth certificates it’s a different story, you need to provide 2 years worth of letters in your name, waste drs time to get letters saying what you tell them, getting a formal diagnosis (which is unnecessary) and you get to pay £140 for that privilege, no other demographic gets this restriction, i mean privilege. The privilege to apply to the Gender Recognition Panel (GRP), who you never meet, to decide if you are trans enough for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).

It currently takes 2 to 3 years onwards to get a 1st appointment at a GIC, so that’s your life on hold for several years, you need to wait to see a GIC and get letters saying what you tell them, with a minimum of 2 appointments, this can take several years, so while you’re trying to live your life, you can’t get your birth certificate updated till you meet the requirements, this increases your chances of being outed and discriminated against. Plus the expensive cost, the hurdles that you have to overcome it’s no surprise that it’s very under used by trans people.

With an estimated 200k to 500k trans people in the uk, only <5000 have applied for a GRC, it’s clearly not working nor helping trans people as intended. Hence the GRA reform, also known as self ID, that unleashed a wave of misinformation and fear mongering, it went from an administrative process change to debating the human rights of trans people, rights that have existed for decades. The GRA reform (self ID) made proposed changes, to shorten the time from 2 years to 3 to 6 months, to remove the diagnosis side, and the ridiculously high fee. All logical changes to make it more accessible for trans people. We go to our Dr and say we are trans and want to transition, if that’s what we want. Having a Dr confirm and repeat what we tell them is unnecessary and a waste of time. That time could be spent seeing patients.

The fear mongering, yes anyone would be able to self declare their gender, those same anyone can also walk into their drs and say they are trans and get the same end goal of getting a GRC, a document that no one sees nor can anyone ask to see. The only thing it does is update your birth certificate, nothing else. Access to spaces is…

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