Gender Recognition Act

Shon Faye talks us through proposed reforms to the law, that could make life a lot easier for trans people


So Shon, what do you currently have to do to get your gender recognised legally?

In the application process, there are two streams; one if you’re married and the other if you’re single. If I were going through it as a single person, I would have to have a psychiatric report by a psychiatrists diagnosing me with gender dysphoria, which is still classified as a psychiatric disorder, and a long medical report from the psychiatrist to obtain that. The psychiatrist asks you a bunch of questions about your life, your history… I’ve had psychiatric assessments in my treatment and I found it very invasive. You have to submit that report, then there’s another report that another doctor has to give (which can be your GP) where they have to account for what hormones you’re on, what you’re planning to do towards medical transition, there’s a question they have to fill in that’s what are your intentions as far as surgeries, which ones have you had, if you haven’t had any surgery, why? 

That’s the medical evidence, but you also have to prove that you’ve been living as your required gender for two years at the time you apply. That’s a complex thing to prove, because there are only certain ways which you can prove that. Pay slips for one, which requires a job and having your name and title showing that you’re living as your correct gender. Also possibly your passport or driving license has to be sent off if you’ve changed those over, and also if you’ve changed your name. Obviously all of those documents cost money to change. The psychiatric reports, changing your documents and having a job, they’re all quite financially exclusive. They rule a lot of people out. Those are all hidden costs.

Then you send off that pack of evidence to a panel of three people, who you never meet, and they then decide on the evidence whether you’re who you say you are. There’s no form of appeal against that. It’s a drawn out process, and it’s hard to navigate. You have to be living two years, presenting full time as your acquired gender, but you also have to get psychiatrist reports, and to see a gender clinician, the waiting time on the NHS can be up to two years in some cases.

What happened back in July when they opened up this public consultation on the issue?

Well, last year the Government announced that it intended to consult on this, and that’s when the media storm kicked off. So they dragged it on and didn’t actually follow through on their promise until July of this year. Finally the consultation was published. It was a weird one. It’s an online document where they speak to you and members of the public, particularly trans people, for their opinion on what should change about the law. That could be people who want to see the law change for trans people, but also transphobic people who don’t want to change the law at all.

We’re seeing quite a rise in transphobic sentiments in the mainstream media, why do you think that is?

Well, it’s because trans people have come into a new era of visibility. We’ve always existed but we have had more media attention over the last few years. That causes a backlash. There are people who have never liked us and feel threatened by trans people and by what our existence means on a fundamental level. There’s also the unpleasant strain of the media as a very narrow group of people. There aren’t many trans people working in the media, and definitely not in editorial roles. Politics is getting very polarised and minorities are getting targeted, and trans people tend to be one of them. 

You’re guest Editor of Vice next week! Tell us about what you’ve commissioned.

They’re doing a campaign called Recognise Me, and they trying to get people who aren’t usually engaged in this issue to respond to the government consultation, and talk to them about why it’s important that trans people can self-determine their gender. Trans people are often spoken over. It’s hard to get people to talk about anything other than debating our existence, we usually have to appear with a transphobe on TV. We commissioned an intersex trans woman to talk about that kind of crossover, someone who’s intersex and trans and how legal gender effects her. It’s just trans people in their own words really.

Head over to Vice.com to check out all the commissioned work for Recognise Me. To respond to the consultation on the Gender Recognition Act, head over to Stonewall.org.uk to fill out their streamlined response form. The consultation closes at 11pm, 19th of October.

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