Appendix 1 (Gender Recognition Bill [HL])

We set out below a brief summary of key issues raised by the Gender Recognition Bill.

1. No evidence exists to demonstrate that transsexuality (known clinically as Gender Identity Disorder ) is a biologically determined condition. Until recently, when the advent of advanced plastic surgery techniques effectively manufactured the current condition known as 'transsexuality', gender identity disorder was well known as a psychiatric identity disorder and treated accordingly.
   
   
2. Transsexuality is essentially self-determined gender identity - the only so-called 'medical' condition which is self-diagnosed.
   
   
3. The Government is to provide for the legal change of birth certificates to facilitate what is essentially a form of identity deception and legal fiction in which, for example, a man will for all legal purposes 'become' a woman, even though this is not in fact possible.
   
   
4. The Government intends to establish a Gender Recognition Panel to which it will be possible to apply for certification of legal change to an assumed gender. The proposed panels will apparently consist of two doctors or two psychologists one of whom is supposed to have a speciality in the field. No assessment criteria are specified by the Bill.
   
   
5. Although the Bill provides for a conscience clause that will enable Church of England clergy to opt out of conducting a marriage that involves persons of the same birth sex, there is no provision to safeguard the many rights of third parties.
   
   
6. It will be illegal to disclose that fact that a person has undergone, or seeks to undergo, sex reassignment surgery.
   
   
7. It will be regarded as sex discriminatory if (for example) a male to female transsexual, or some one seeking to change their gender, is prevented from participation in their selected gender specific activities, e.g., the use of female toilets by a male to female transsexual.
   
   

The Gender Recognition Bill can be found on the following web site:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldbills/004/2004004.htm

Explanatory notes for the bill can be found at:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldbills/004/en/04004x--.htm