Labour plans to simplify ‘dehumanising’ gender change process

Labour will make it easier to change gender and is considering allowing a single family doctor to sign off on the decision under plans to “simplify” the process.

The party is considering how to make the legally binding certificate easier to obtain while still having guardrails to prevent mirroring controversial proposals in Scotland that would have removed doctors from the process altogether.

The plans include ditching a panel of doctors and lawyers that approve gender recognition certificates, the document allowing transgender people to have their affirmed gender legally recognised, and only requiring one doctor to be involved in the process.

The Times understands that one option under consideration is that the doctor could be a GP. Labour would also remove the ability of a spouse to object to the change. A source said the party wanted to make the process “less medicalised” but added that the plans would retain the involvement of a doctor and would not allow people to self-identify in order to obtain legal changes.

They said it had not yet been decided whether the medical professional would be a GP or a gender specialist, with the issue likely to go to consultation if the party wins the next election.

The discussions centre on concerns that if the single doctor was a specialist, a GP would still need to make the referral, therefore retaining the two-step process that Labour wants to drop.

There were also questions over whether GPs were qualified or had the capacity to make the decision. The Royal College of GPs said its members were already working under “considerable pressure”.

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Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said she would be concerned about “shifting sole responsibility for signing gender recognition certificates to GPs”.

She said while the college supported improving care for patients with gender dysphoria “including tackling the long waits they face for treatment and services”, she added: “For most GPs, detailed management of gender dysphoria is outside of our area of expertise.”