The new rules will lower the minimum age that people can apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) from 18 to 16.
They will also remove the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
And anyone applying for a GRC will now only need to have lived in their acquired gender for three months - or six months if they are aged 16 and 17 - rather than two years.
For context, a Gender Recognition Certificate allows you to do the following:
- Update your birth or adoption certificate, if it was registered in the UK
- Get married or form a civil partnership in your affirmed gender
- Update your marriage or civil partnership certificate, if it was registered in the UK
- Have your affirmed gender on your death certificate when you die
BTW this is only "controversial" if you're a mouthpiece for tory nazis, but this is the BBC we're talking about, i guess we can be happy they do not have a convicted serial r*pist pitch in with her opinion on the subject this time.
I kid you not, I saw the BBC once call Tories "we".