attention the trans and nonbinary community living in the UK: the government is planning on streamlining and de-medicalising the process for legally changing your gender!
in order to do so, the government is running a survey for people in the community who are 16 yo and older and currently living in the UK. the survey is anonymous and can be taken here.
the survey will run from the 23rd of july 2017 to the 15th of october 2017
Jeremy Corbyn has challenged Theresa May to allow people to self-identify as transgender without having to go through medical checks, pledging that Labour would support any government attempt to change the law.
…
But Corbyn said May would have his support if she scrapped the requirement for trans people to undergo medical tests, and instead allowed them to self-identify their gender, saying legislation could be passed with Labour backing if the Tories and DUP had a free vote.
“Discrimination has gone on too long. The Gender Recognition Act does not allow trans people to self-identify their gender and forces them to undergo invasive medical tests. This is wrong,” he said.
“Labour recognised this in our manifesto, pledging to update the act. Theresa May told Pink News that ‘changes need to be made’ but failed to include anything on this in the Conservative manifesto.
“So, I say to her today, Labour will help you keep your promise. Bring forward a bill to update the act and improve trans rights and Labour will back you. You can give your MPs and the DUP a free vote and Labour will make it law.”
There is no mention in the article of legal recognition of nonbinary genders, which is disappointing. I am a little nervous of a shoving-us-under-the-bus situation, even though this would be a hugely positive step for binary trans people.
“There are many individuals in the UK and around the world who do not identify as male or female. Bodies are typically male or female, though some cannot be placed in either category through natural variation, and we find the same holds true of minds. The use of the X marker would have no significant impact on bureaucracy and yet would allow those who fall through the gaps of the current system to be represented honestly in their documentation in a way that is accurate to their lived experience.”
Please share this petition, and sign if you are a UK citizen!
UK Trans Info has today published a new guide to UK legal gender recognition, which was created with support and funding from the Scottish Transgender Alliance. This booklet explains what gender recognition is, what the eligibility requirements are, how to make the application and what happens once you have applied. It will also guide you through the additional steps you’ll need to take if you are married or in a civil partnership.
This blog now has a handy page that can be accessed from the sidebar at all times, with all the basic information you need to very strongly support your case for having a nonbinary gender/no gender and an inclusive title/no title in any records in the UK.
Extremely comprehensive research summary by Nat, of Practical Androgyny. Nat compiled statistics from census and research surveys in the UK, US, Israel, and globally, to estimate the number of people who identify as non-binary.
The two main conclusions are:
By the EHRC’s figures 0.4% of Brits are nonbinary. If they’d asked in terms of a man/woman binary it would be higher
Evidence shows that 1.3% of the United Kingdom population are trans or gender variant, of those 30.2% are nonbinary
Keeping in mind deeply flawed survey questions, no cross-reliability measures, and extrapolation from questions not meant to measure non-binary genders, this offers terrific insights for how to glean more accurate insights about this population in the future.
