The Gender Recognition Act has not been updated since 2004
BY ELEANOR NOYCE, IMAGE BY THE GENDER SPECTRUM COLLECTION/ZACKARY DRUCKER
Today, the Feminist Gender Equality Network has joined an increasing number of LGBTQI organisations in condemning the decision made by the EHRC to intervene in the reform of the Scottish Gender Recognition Act and the Conversion Therapy Ban. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has supported further delays to the Gender Recognition Act reforms in Scotland, further stating that the report on Conversion Therapy “lacks clear definitions of the terms ‘conversion therapy’ and ‘transgender’”. FGEN cites these views as influenced by an anti-trans minority.
The Gender Recognition Act has not been updated since 2004. Though the Women & Equalities Committee had been making moves towards ensuring this new legislation was brought in by January 2022, but this progress has since stalled. Stonewall supports a reformed GRA that requires no medical diagnosis, recognises non-binary identities and gives all trans people the right to self-determination. Equally, the UK Government has extended the consultation on Conversion Therapy until 4 February 2022, though its current proposals render LGBTQIA vulnerable to Conversion Therapies.
In a statement released this afternoon, FGEN wrote: “As an organisation defined by its dedication to human rights, the EHRC should be committed to supporting the rights of trans people over and above the ideological resistance of a minority of anti-trans campaigning organisations. The Feminist Gender Equality Network strenuously protest the EHRC attack on the rights of transgender people, and those of the wider LGBTQIA+ community”.
Professor Sally Hines, co-founder of FGEN states: “This is disappointing, but not surprising. There is a growing body of evidence, which we have today begun to publish on our website, that shows that the EHRC is the latest organisation to have been “captured” in a deliberate attempt to subvert equality in the UK. It is no longer a neutral body concerned with the workings of Human Rights in the UK, but little more than an arm of one faction of the Conservative Party, determined to wage “Culture War” wherever it encounters any view it disagrees with”.
If you’d like to support FGEN, consider signing Stonewall’s open letter here. To keep up with FGEN, follow them on Twitter or visit their website.
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