Lou's adventures Beyond

Since this came up in regards to emigrating outside the UK and gender recognition I thought I’d write a small post about how gender works in the UK and is recorded. As the UK isn’t quite as organised as countries such as Germany it is possible and common for gender to be different depending on circumstances. This is probably best seperated into 2 sections. As always this is just a basic summary and it’s probably best to consult a lawyer.

Birth Certificate

Under UK law Legal Gender is defined as what’s on your Birth certificate. However for most practical purposes this is not actually legally significant as documentation such as driving licences and passports can be changed based on self ID.

The most important area where legal gender is important is getting married in the UK (as marriage vows in England/Wales may have to be recited in regards to legal gender), pension before the pension age was adjusted and if a person ended up in prison.

Eqality act and sex discrimination

Under the equality act it is illegal to descriminate due to trans status (perception or intent to transition) or sex. This would probably have the effect of covering a trans person in a sex discrimination case the same as a CIS person and there is also no need to disclose trans status in most cases (pretty much only for background checks when working with vulnerable people or working in a rape crisis centre). This is one area I’m not particuly well read up on so probably best to talk to a lawyer or trans organisation.

Other documentation

Apart from birth certificates all other documentation does not show legal gender but instead shows either the gender person identifies as or whatever they like (in the case of Ms/Mr/Mx as these have no legal standing).

In the case of ID documents such as passports/driving licences all that is required to change gender is a letter from a doctor or psychiatrist. It is also possibly to change your gender under the NHS using this method.

In the UK anyone can change name using either a deed poll (signed by witness’) or statutary declaration (signed by solicitor/judge). Both of these documents can be created using templates which are available free online.

Due to the equlity act and other provisions it is also easy to change documents such as exam certificates which are not normally changable by CIS people. For example changing your degree certificate is as simple as sending a certified copy of your statuatary declaration or deed poll and stating that you have undergone gender transition.

Toilets etc.

Access to single sex areas such as toilets is currently not controlled by law and is via convention. This means that you can use the one that match’s your gender identity. This is also backed up by case law around the Eqaulity act.

So it’s been awhile since we made the decision to move countries (Well technically since December). Things have been progressing slowly while we wait for the pandemic to subside and things to open up again.

While plans have been progressing it’s been a difficult month here in the UK and anxiety for not just me but most of the trans community has been through the roof. Earlier in the month we heard leaks from the government that the proposed reforms for our gender recognition laws were going to be shelved and our rights were going to be rolled back. This was rumoured to involve our access to ‘single-sex spaces’ being denied which would meen we potentially could even loose the right to use the toilet without harrasment (or arrest).

There has been a big push back from the community though and demonstrations have happened nationally. The push-back which has hopefully made the government realise that we are the small easily kicked minority that they hoped we would be. Surveys have also shown that there isn’t widespread support for rolling back our rights.

All of this has mean’t that the goverment has now announced that reform will be delayed again (first to this week and now to September). It means that we won’t get the prize of having self-ID for changing our birth-certificates but it also means that things atm won’t get worse either.

For now this feels like small victory. For me personally it gives me time so we can get ready to move. We still don’t trust that things won’t get worse over time and we still need to move somewhere where we can get away from the harm inflicted on us by the media and government. It also means that our friends and others that we care about also have a chance to be safe even though they don’t have the ability to move.

It’s been too long since I’ve blogged so due to some scary and exciting future life changes I’ve decided that it’s best to get writing again.

It’s been a difficult few years in the UK and things have been slowing getting worse here. The main stream media has become more hostile to trans people and we have a TERF for an equalities minister. The community is fighting back though and hopefully things will get better eventually. So hopefully one day the UK might be a better place for trans people.

We have decided though that this is not a country we wish to live in anymore when we could be happier elsewhere. I suspect one of the things that has really changed is me and my awareness of how England feels rotten to the core and although the younger generations here give me hope it’s not somewhere I feel comfortable anymore.

On a lighter note we are currently exploring a couple of options with help from the people over at https://twitter.com/TransEmigrate, Ireland and Germany.

Germany

Germany was our original plan before the coronavirus hit the world. We had been trying to rush preperations so we could leave before we would need to get visa’s to move there (1st January 2021).

We know a little more about Germany as I’ve been posted there for work and we have been on holiday in the Berlin and Cologne area. There are lots that sound good about Germany and a few things that are a little scary for our situation and we need to research to see what the situation is especially when it comes to things like gender recognition as we have both changed our names and gender on our passports but not birth certificates.

Ireland

Ireland is something we hadn’t thought about till recently. They have self-ID so that is a massive plus for us as we could both change our legal gender easily. This is a massive plus for me as changing birth certificates is costly and bauracratic here. In the UK it may also not be possible for me to change without starting the process again (probably privately) as I believe the people who signed off my transition are no longer practicing. The only downside with Ireland will be living in a smaller country and we already find it difficult to live in rural Cambridgeshire.

Further information

I’m creating a page which will be updated as I discover more here