| (the GRA) The GRA legislation provides a mechanism to allow trans people to obtain recognition for all legal purposes to their preferred gender role. There are 4 elements that require compliance to succeed in an application: 1. Been living permanently in their preferred gender role for at least 2 years, and, 2. Have been under medical supervision and assessed as having gender dypshoria, now or in the past and, 3. Are currently unmarried1 and, 4. Are able to declare that they intend to live permanently in their new gender role for the remainder of their life [ 1 If you are still married, go to the section Currently Married below ]
You will need to have a psychiatric or psychologists report that you have or have had gender dysphoria. What if ? Your assessment for treatment was a long time ago, Your doctor is now retired or dead , Your treatment was overseas you can provide your assessment notes, You are still waiting for your clinical assessment to consider whether you are suitable for treatment.
For Questions 1. 2. and 4. The only way around this is to pay privately for an assessment by one of the doctors on the list of 'Expert doctors' on the Gender Recognition Panel's site, who does private work, to provide a new evaluation that states you had gender dysphoria in the past, or you have it now and are awaiting an appointment for assessment at a gender identity clinic. For Question 3. The only way around this is to pay privately for one of the doctors on the list of 'Expert doctors' on the Gender Recognition Panel's site, who does private work, to agree to look over your diagnostic notes and confirm to the GRP in a new medical statment that the assessment met standards similar to those in the UK or the period relevant WPATH Standards of Care. You need to provide them with as much detail as possible. For both situations : The only way to find out which doctors might do this is by writing to the doctors on the list one by one, to see if they are currently willing to do this. |
Hormone Therapy The Act does not require a trans person to have already undergone previous hormone therapies or surgery (though most applicants will have). But the Gender Recognition Panel will look for evidence of your intention to undertake hormone therapy in the future as soon as a place comes up for clinical assessment and treatment. Surgery There is no requirement that you undergo genital reconstruction surgery, but unless for reasons of health, again it is not a good idea to simply say you do not want it. Better to state that you intend to have it in the future when the surgical waiting list has spaces. Generally they do not require trans men to have genital reconstruction because of its potential complications.
| Currently Married | If a trans person meets these requirements, but they are still married or in a registered civil partnership, they can be awarded an INTERIM Gender Recognition Certificate with a ‘6 month life’ which provides a couple a fast track route to the annulment of their marriage or the ending of the partnership. You can then apply to the County Court to have your marriage annulled. The Family Proceedings (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2005 gives instructions to the courts to accept an Interim Gender Recognition Certificate as grounds for annulment of a marriage | | Recognition for all legal purposes includes giving the trans person the right to marry or form a civil partnership in their new gender role. However, the Act provides a ‘conscience’ concession for religious leaders by allowing individual priests, ministers, Brahmin, Imams or other leaders to refuse to perform a marriage ceremony where one of the parties is a trans person who is getting married in their new legal gender role.
There is a Court practice direction relating to annulment where a person has an INTERIM gender recognition certificate, enabling the creation of a new Birth Certificate for the trans person as soon as the annulment is completed, so that on the same day the couple (if they wish to do so) who have had to divorce or end their civil partnership may return to the registry office and register their ongoing relationship in the alternative form. |
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The Civil Partnership Act 2004 is legislation to enable the registration of same sex partnerships. Amended the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to allow trans people to enter civil partnerships in their new gender role, if they have received a gender recognition certificate. |
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| | The Human Rights Act 1998 This Act incorporated the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law. It also gave all public authorities a General Duty to ensure that everybody should be treated equally and with dignity – no matter what their circumstances. This means everybody should have access to public services and the right to be treated fairly by those services. This applies to all public services, including the criminal justice system. Every person has a right to be treated with: - Fairness
- Respect
- Equality
- Dignity , and
- Respect for their Personal Autonomy
The Human Rights Act protects all of us, young and old, rich and poor. Hopefully you will never need to rely on it, but every year hundreds of people do. Despite this, the Act is frequently misunderstood and misrepresented. We are campaigning to set the record straight. Find out more about ourCommon Values campaign.
Who can use the Human Rights Act?
The Human Rights Act may be used by every person resident in England or Wales regardless of whether or not they are a British citizen or a foreign national, a child or an adult, a prisoner or a member of the public. It can even be used by companies or organisations (like Liberty).
What does the Human Rights Act actually do?
The Human Rights Act protects all of us, young and old, rich and poor. Hopefully you will never need to rely on it, but every year hundreds of people do. Despite this, the Act is frequently misunderstood and misrepresented. We are campaigning to set the record straight. Find out more about Liberty's Common Values campaign. Who can use the Human Rights Act? The Human Rights Act may be used by every person resident in England or Wales regardless of whether or not they are a British citizen or a foreign national, a child or an adult, a prisoner or a member of the public. It can even be used by companies or organisations (like Liberty). What does the Human Rights Act actually do? The human rights that are contained within this law are based on the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Act ‘gives further effect’ to rights and freedoms guaranteed under the European Convention. What this actually means is that it does two things: - Judges must read and give effect to legislation (other laws) in a way which is compatible with the Convention rights.
- It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right.
Read more about how the HRA works.
What rights does the Human Rights Act protect? - The right to life – protects your life, by law. The state is required to investigate suspicious deaths and deaths in custody.
- The prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment – you should never be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading way, no matter what the situation.
- Protection against slavery and forced labour – you should not be treated like a slave or subjected to forced labour.
- The right to liberty and freedom – you have the right to be free and the state can only imprison you with very good reason – for example, if you are convicted of a crime.
- The right to a fair trial and no punishment without law - you are innocent until proven guilty. If accused of a crime, you have the right to hear the evidence against you, in a court of law.
- Respect for privacy and family life and the right to marry – protects against unnecessary surveillance or intrusion into your life. You have the right to marry and raise a family.
- Freedom of thought, religion and belief – you can believe what you like and practise your religion or beliefs.
- Free speech and peaceful protest – you have a right to speak freely and join with others peacefully, to express your views.
- No discrimination – everyone’s rights are equal. You should not be treated unfairly – because, for example, of your gender, race, sexuality, religion or age.
- Protection of property, the right to an education and the right to free elections – protects against state interference with your possessions; means that no child can be denied an education and that elections must be free and fair.
Find out more about what the rights mean. What does that mean for me? If you can show that a public authority has interfered with any of the rights recognised by the Convention you can take action in a number of different ways. For example: - You could simply write to the public authority concerned and remind them of their legal obligations under the Human Rights Act and ask them to rectify the situation.
- If you went to court the court may find that a particular action (or inaction) of a public authority is (or would be) unlawful. It can tell the public authority to stop interfering with your right or to take action to protect your right.
- If the court is satisfied that a provision of a law is incompatible with a Convention right, it may make a declaration of that incompatibility. This is just a formal legal statement that the particular law interferes with human rights. It does not have immediate effect but strongly encourages Parliament to amend or repeal the law in question.
For detailed information about how the law applies to you, visit Liberty’s legal information website www.yourrights.org.uk Human rights belong to every member of the human family regardless of sex, race, nationality, socio-economic group, political opinion, sexual orientation or any other status. Human rights are universal. They apply to all people simply on the basis of being human. Human rights are inalienable. They cannot be taken away simply because we do not like the person seeking to exercise their rights. They can only be limited in certain tightly defined circumstances, and some rights, such as the prohibition on torture and slavery, can never be limited. Human rights are indivisible. You cannot pick and choose which rights you want to honour. Many rights depend on each other to be meaningful – so, for example, the right to fair trial would be meaningless without the prohibition on discrimination, and the right to free speech must go hand in hand with the right to assemble peacefully. Human rights are owed by the State to the people – this means public bodies must respect your human rights and the Government must ensure there are laws in place so that other people respect your human rights too. For example, the right to life requires not only that the actions of those working on behalf of the State do not lead to your death, but that laws are also in place to protect you from the actions of others that might want to do you harm. Human rights were first recognised internationally by the Universal Declaration on Human Rightsin 1948. This was quickly followed by the adoption two years later of the European Convention on Human Rights. In 1998 the Human Rights Act was passed making the human rights in the European Convention on Human Rights directly enforceable in the UK. It entered into force on 2 October 2000. The UK is also a party to a number of other international instruments that seek to protect and promote other human rights The above is taken from LIBERTY's Your Rights Website
Read:  A Guide to the Human Rights Act
 Making sense of human rights.
How To Enforce Your Rights Guidance from, LIBERTY to some of the ways in which you can enforce your rights, challenge decisions and get redress. It deals with:
| | The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful in Employment & the provision of Goods, Services, Housing, and Facilities to Part 2, Ch. 1, S.7 The Act makes it unlawful to discriminate or harass a person because they ARE intending to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone gender reassignment.*** [i] *** What is now meant when a person is "intending to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone gender reassignment"? Answer: The Explanatory Notes to the Act make it quite clear that 'gender reassignment' is to be considered a social process and not a medical process. As such, the act protects anyone who is Intending to undergo, is undergoing, or has undergone gender reassignment even if they have not had aor do not intend to have any medical gender reassignment treatments. What matters is that you intend to permanently live, or are living permanently in your preferred gender role. |
Types of Discrimination covered by the Equality Act 2010: There are now 5 different types of Discrimination that a trans person can experience, which are covered by the Act: Direct Discrimination: when a person, rule or policy discriminates againsta person solely becuase they are transsexual Indirect Discrimination: when you have a rule or policy that applies to everyone but disadvantages a person with a protected characteristic. Harassment: behaviour deemed offensive by the recipient. Employees can claim they find something offensive even when it's not directed at them. Harassment by a third party: employers are potentially liable for the harassment of staff or customers by people they don't directly employ, such as a contractor. (this is called Vicarious Liability) Victimisation: discrimination against someone because they made or supported a complaint under Equality Act legislation There are now 2 further types of Discrimination that can cover discrimination becuase a) a person is thought to be transsexual (and this can include cross dressers), or b) a person is associated with a transsexual person Perceptive Discrimination: The Act also makes it unlawful on the same basis to discriminate or harass a person because they are PERCEIVED to be Intending to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone gender reassignment Associative discrimination: The Act also makes it unlawful on the same basis to discriminate or harass a person because they are ASSOCIATED with a person who is intending to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone gender reassignment There is also protection for anyone who stands up against discrimination towards a transsexual person
Part 2, Chapter 2, S.16, Hospital & other treatment appointments: The section of the Act makes it: unlawful for an employer to refuse a person TIME OFF work, to attend appointments e.g. Electrolysis, hospital, surgery etc. if the appointment concerns their gender reassignment treatments and/or surgery. |
For example; a born female person increasingly changes their clothes to become more masculine, adopts a new style of address e.g. Jo instead of Joanna. As s/he enters his/her late teen years s/he is increasingly perceived as a man and by the time s/he is 15, Jo has gradually become Joe. Though some neighbours know Joe's past, Joe is very happy with the situation in which everyone else regard him as a man. For the Equality Act 2010, Joe is a person who has undergone gender reassignment despite never having been assessed, taken hormones, or had any surgery. Another very relevant section of the Act is:
Part 11, Ch.1, s.149: The Public Sector Equality Duty: ss(1) A public authority[ii] must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to— (a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act; (b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; (c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.[iii] ss (3) Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to— (a) remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that characteristic; (b) take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it; (c) encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low. READ The Equality Act 2010, the Public Sector Equality Duty 
NOTES: [i] Initially the European Court of Justice used the phrase “intending to undergo, undergoing or having undergone gender reassignment” but s. 82 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (as amended) now states that this refers to those people intending to transition, or who have transitioned to living permanently in the new gender role ‘under medical supervision’. Medical supervision is as little as going to the doctor and saying "I wish to undergo gender reassignment treatment, please could you refer me to be put on the waiting list for a clinical assessment”. As such it is possible to say that “intending to undergo, undergoing or having undergone gender reassignment” now means in UK law; “intending to live permanently, or is already living permanently in the new gender role.” [ii] this includes a person who exercises public functions (s.2) [iii] having regard to Pt 11, Chp.1, s.149, ss.1(c) fostering good relations includes (a) tackling prejudice, and (b) promoting understanding.(Pt.2, Ch.1,s.149, ss5(a) &(b))
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