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
  • Staines [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    This legislation for Scotland helps people bypass the deliberate chokepoint of years-long waiting lists for entry into trans-healthcare in the UK by not requiring an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria to access services. It simply results in far faster, far cheaper, far more efficient, far more effective healthcare. It's possible that England will try to react strongly against the Scottish system, only to adopt it in a few years anyway because of the cost and staff saving benefits in a purely pragmatic sense.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Can trans people outside Scotland get a GRC from there? Or does this only benefit Scottish people?

      • ElmLion [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Scottish law applies to Scottish 'citizens', the definition of which has always been wonky. But basically means 'any UK citizen with an address here'. With a pal, you could claim to have a Scottish address, get a GRC from Scottish gov, then immediately 'move' back.

  • AcidSmiley [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    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.

  • Staines [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    UK seeking to block the bill.

    https://twitter.com/JournoStephen/status/1605948420341960704

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      If I'm reading this correctly, the UK might block this on the grounds that it violates equal rights for women, which is just exceptionally cursed.

    • AcidSmiley [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Damn, are the replies full of weasely, disgusting TERF scum. I wish every single one of these hags a very cervical cancer for christmas.

      • GenderIsOpSec [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        :dead-dove-1:

        :dead-dove-2:

        :dead-dove-3:

        muh girls and womens spaces muh muh :agony-acid: what is there to fucking stop just a straight up cis-male r*****t to enter these places again? fucking NOTHING god i hate these people

          • GenderIsOpSec [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Would be nice to know, but then again :stfu-terf: they can just shut the fuck up instead.

          • NPa [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            ah but you see, you said something mean to them on twitter so now you must pay with your life sorry, I don't make the rules (absolute ghouls do)

  • SoyViking [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    This is all well and good. But I simply don't understand why it is so important for the government to gender stuff that doesn't need it to begin with. For instance why do you need to get married as a gender instead of just as a person? From a legal point of view gender should be irrelevant for the institution of marriage

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Perhaps if other countries' governments were as advanced and progressive as Cuba's, they would update everything to be instantly compatible with every type of family structure.

    • CrimsonSage [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Because the heteronormative household is optimal for producing workers and therefore the bourgeois state has an interest in maximizing it.

    • D61 [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      If/when somebody needs to be tracked down using those types of documents... maybe.

  • SaniFlush [any, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    With each turn of the screw, we get a little closer. That’s how a drill works.

  • artificialset [she/her, fae/faer]
    ·
    2 years ago

    It still seems ridiculous to have to live as your "acquired" gender at all before getting that certificate. I doubt the person transitioning needs the extra three months to really be sure. Applying for that certificate in the first place makes me think someone is pretty certain.

    • CrimsonSage [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yes, but have you considered that trans people are inferior to cis people, and therefore we must place as high as a barrier as possible in the way so that no actual human might accidentally become a removed err I mean trans "person."