Transgender guidance

The Gender Recognition Act came into effect in April 2005. This page outlines the act and implications for employers. The new Gender Equality Duty also includes specific guidance on transgender issues, which employers should refer to.

• About the Act
• Broader legislative context

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

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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.