FabSwingers.com forum: The GRA and Self ID

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

I'm starting to see more and more in the press debate about the Gender Recognition Act and the proposals for Self ID.

A brief summary (as I understand it); currently, for someone to be issued with a Gender Recognition Certificate to be issued, you have to have medical evidence backing up that you are changing gender. You also have to provide various other evidence to the Gender Recognition Panel. It is proposed to do away with the medical evidence and allow people to self certify in this regard. This is my understanding from what I have pieced together and may not be accurate. I'm sure others know far more than me.

The crux is though that some groups feel that allowing people to self ID will allow predatory (primarily men) to access safe spaces for women such as toilets, prisons and refuges. There have also been cases of men identifying as women and then wiping the board at women sport, Notoriously a weightlifter in New Zealand.

On the otherwise, transpeople feel that they are being discriminated against. They also feel that having to submit the medical evidence is demeaning and intrusive.

The argument is hugely complex and convoluted and I have missed huge bits of it out.

A huge part of me feels that there is bigotry underlying the resistance to self ID and the you are on the same side as the far Christian right you're in the wrong. However I can see some of the arguments feminists are making around sport.

For a monday I thought it might be an interesting discussion rather than the usual!

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Even if the requirement for medical evidence is removed,I feel there should still be a requirement for a person wishing to obtain a GRC to demonstrate their sincerity.

Quite what form that demonstration should take,I have no idea.

It may be worth noting that anyone can change all outward signs of gender expression at any time they feel is right,without the need to change official documents such as drivers licence,passport.A name change via deed poll is also quite simple. In other words, no one needs permission to transition or to express themselves.

Personally,I have often wondered what exactly is the use of a GRC?

When was the last time any adult needed to produce their birth certificate? A drivers licence or passport are much more useful forms of ID.