Transgender rights in the United Kingdom

In December 2002, the Lord Chancellor's office published the Government Policy Concerning Transsexual People document that categorically states that transsexualism "is not a mental illness", but rather a "widely recognised medical condition" characterised by an "overpowering sense of different gender identity".[1]

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 was drafted in response to court rulings from the European Court of Human Rights. On 11 July 2002, in Goodwin & I v United Kingdom, (a.k.a. Christine Goodwin & I v United Kingdom [2002] 2 FCR 577), the European Court of Human Rights ruled that rights to privacy and family life were being infringed and that "the UK Government had discriminated based on the following: Violation of Article 8 and Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights". Following this judgment, the UK government had to introduce new legislation to comply. In response to its obligation, the UK Parliament passed the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which effectively granted full legal recognition for binary transgender people.[2]

Since 4 April 2005, as per the Gender Recognition Act 2004, it is possible for transgender people to change their legal gender in the UK. Transgender people must present evidence to a Gender Recognition Panel, which considers their case and issues a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC); they must have transitioned two years before a GRC is issued. It is not a requirement for sex reassignment surgery to have taken place. However, such surgery will be accepted as part of the supporting evidence for a case where it has taken place. There is formal approval of medical gender reassignment available either on the National Health Service (NHS) or privately. If the person's birth or adoption was registered in the United Kingdom, they may also be issued a new birth certificate after their details have been entered onto the Gender Recognition Register.

In June 2020 a report published by the European Commission ranked the procedure established in the Gender Recognition Act 2004 as amongst the worst in Europe with "intrusive medical requirements", which means it now lags behind international human rights standards.[3]

In September 2020 the UK government published the results of a public consultation into reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 which had been launched in 2018.[4] This showed majority support for wide ranging changes, however the UK Government decided not to change the current law.[5]

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it illegal to discriminate on the ground of anatomical sex in employment, education, and the provision of housing, goods, facilities and services.[2] The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 extended the existing Sex Discrimination Act, and made it illegal to discriminate against any person on the grounds of gender reassignment, but only in the areas of employment and vocational training.[2]

The Equality Act 2006 introduced the Gender Equality Duty in Scotland, which made public bodies obliged to take seriously the threat of harassment or discrimination of transsexual people in various situations. In 2008, the Sex Discrimination (Amendment of Legislation) Regulations extended existing regulation to outlaw discrimination when providing goods or services to transsexual people. The definition of "transsexual" used in the Gender Equality Duty is still technically the same as that in the Sexual Discrimination Act; however, this legislation was meant to prevent discrimination against all transgender people.[2]

The Equality Act 2010 officially adds "gender reassignment" as a "protected characteristic", stating that:

A person has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment if the person is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex.[12]

This law provides protection for transsexual people at work, in education, as a consumer, when using public services, when buying or renting property, or as a member or guest of a private club or association.[13] Protection against discrimination by association with a transsexual person is also included.

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination against people with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment in the provision of separate and single-sex services but includes an exception that service providers can use in exceptional circumstances.[14] In general, organisations that provide separate or single‑sex services for women and men, or provide different services to women and men, are required to treat transsexual people according to the gender role in which they present.[14]

However, in limited circumstances, treating transsexual people differently may be lawful. For example, excluding a transsexual woman from group support sessions within a sexual abuse crisis centre and instead electing to provide individual support privately, may be justified if her presence is considered detrimental to the support of other service users.[15] This is likely to meet the legal requirements of the exemption in the Equality Act which states that it may be applied as "a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim". The exclusion can only be applied on an individual case-by-case basis and must not form part of a blanket policy for the treatment of transsexual people (Equality Act 2010, Schedule 3, Part 7; Equality Act 2010, Schedule 23).

In 2018, a spokesperson for the Government Equalities Office maintained that the government had no plans to amend the Equality Act 2010 either directly or indirectly, and that it planned to maintain the Equality Act's "provision for single and separate sex spaces".[16]

In addition to the basic legal protection afforded by the Equality Act 2010, the UK government has published good practice guidance on providing services that are inclusive of transgender people as customers, clients, users or members.[15]

Some transgender rights activists, such as Transgender Equality & Rights in Scotland, advocate adding the category of "gender identity," "in order to be more clearly inclusive of those transgender people who do not identify as transsexual and do not intend to change the gender in which they live". They also want to introduce measures that would clarify protections from discrimination in education, certain kinds of employment, and medical insurance.[17]

Christine Burns, author of Trans Britain: Our Journey from the Shadows, stated in a CNN article that The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers published "six trans related pieces in 2016" but "over 150 in 2017 and similarly each year since".[23] In evidence given to the Edinburgh Employment Tribunal in 2019, Burns said that during 2016, both The Times and Sunday Times began to publish a larger number of trans-related stories, and by 2017 had "uniquely" published "over 130" trans-related items, which she described as a "trans backlash" stemming from 2015.[24]

• Transgender rights
• LGBT rights in the United Kingdom
• Intersex rights in the United Kingdom

• Gender Recognition Panel