About the Act
The Act gives Transgendered or Transexual people full legal recognition
of change of gender. It enables them to live fully and permanently in their
chosen gender and to apply for legal recognition of that gender.
Legal recognition
For the first time, the act recognises the medical condition
of gender dysphoria (people whose sex and gender do not match - often described
as transgendered or transexual).
Gender Recognition Panels (GRPs) will be established under
the act to determine applications for legal recognition. Successful applicants
will be able to demonstrate to legal and medical panel members that they have,
or have had, gender dysphoria, that they have lived for at least the last two
years in their acquired gender and that they intend to do so until death.
Successful applicants will be issued with a Gender
Recognition Certificate (GRC) and will have the right, from the date of
recognition, to marry in their acquired gender and to be given birth
certificates that recognise the acquired gender.
The point at which a transgendered person has changed gender
for legal purposes will usually be two years after the date of their name
change when they have applied for and received a GRC.
Key points
·
Transgender people have a recognised medical condition
·
Transgender is not a mental illness although transgendered people
may experience mental or physical ill health in the same way as everyone else
·
Transgender is a condition of gender identity or gender
expression, not sexual orientation
·
Transgendered people have a right to, and may wish to, keep their
transgendered status private
Broader legislative context
The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations
1999 already includes some protection for transgendered people on the grounds
of gender reassignment or potential gender reassignment in employment and
vocational training. It is therefore unlawful to discriminate against a person
for the purpose of employment (recruitment, promotion, access to benefits,
selection for redundancy, vocational training etc) on the grounds that the
person intends to undergo, or is undergoing, or has at some stage undergone,
gender reassignment.