New campaign calls for reform of gender recognition law in Scotland and an end to unnecessary ‘normalising’ surgeries on intersex children.
A NEW campaign has been launched in Edinburgh calling for legal equality for transgender and intersex people in Scotland.
The Equal Recognition campaign was launched by the Scottish Transgender Alliance and the Equality Network, the Scottish LGBTI equality charity, and includes a call for the Scottish Government to change the law to recognise a third gender in Scotland.
Currently transgender people who do not identify as male or female, but rather have a non-binary gender identity, have no legal recognition of their gender unlike in other countries including Australia, Denmark, Malta, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and New Zealand where a third gender is given recognition.
Intersex people – who are born with bodies which cannot be classified as clearly male or female – are often denied basic human rights by being subjected to genital surgeries in early childhood that damage and traumatise them for life. These interventions may sterilise an individual, often leave deep scarring, and can cause loss of sensation. Therefore the campaign calls for intersex children to be protected from unnecessary genital surgeries while too young to give or withhold their informed consent.
The campaign also calls for reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to make it easier for transgender and intersex people to have the gender they live as legally recognised. The charity says that transgender people in Scotland are currently forced to undertake a humiliating psychiatric assessment simply in order to have the gender they live as reflected on their birth certificate.
Over 150 transgender and intersex people from across the country joined the charity to launch the campaign in the biggest push for transgender and intersex rights to date in Scotland. An online petition was also launched.
To sign the petition, click here:
Nathan Gale, Scottish Transgender Alliance Policy Officer for the Equality Network, said: “Scotland is falling behind a growing number of countries around the world who now recognise in law that not everyone can be neatly categorised as male or female, and instead ensure that all trans and intersex people are accepted and protected. It is time for Scotland to catch up, recognise our existence and respect our diverse bodies and identities.”
Robin Duval, 29, a non-binary trans person from Edinburgh said: “I feel like I’m leading a double life. My friends know I don’t feel male or female and respect that, but the stress of having to pretend to be something that I’m not, everyday, just to fit in with society has a massive impact on my health and wellbeing. It affects every part of my life, whether I’m at work, going to the doctors, travelling through passport control, or even just going to the toilet. I just want to be accepted for who I am in the eyes of society, and have my gender recognised in the law with the same rights as anyone else.”
Becky Kent, 52, a trans woman from Edinburgh, added: “For me, recognition of my gender is simply about official acceptance of who I already know that I am. Nobody but me knows who I am inside. It is terribly insulting to have to get the permission of a psychiatrist in order to get my birth certificate changed. I’m a competent, responsible adult. I should be trusted to know who I am.”
Jennie Kermode, an intersex activist from Glasgow, said: “The first priority for any government concerned with the rights and well being of intersex people must be to end normalisation surgery carried out before the patient is old enough to consent to it, where there is an absence of urgent medical need.”
The Equal Recognition campaign has been launched as a call to action at the inaugural Trans and Intersex Conference of the Isles in Edinburgh. The event has brought together transgender and intersex equality activists from across Scotland, the UK, and Ireland, to discuss the high levels of discrimination and prejudice that they continue to face. The conference has been made possible by funding from VisitScotland.
Chris McCoy, Equality and Diversity Manager at VisitScotland, who addressed the conference, said: “VisitScotland is delighted that this important conference is being held in Scotland, and to support it through our Conference Bid Fund. We are working with the Scottish tourism industry to make this country more accessible, which includes making it inclusive of all people.
“It is vital that we understand the barriers and the issues that trans and intersex people face. This conference will enable us to hear first-hand their experiences, giving us information and education to ensure that Scotland is really inclusive, not only in what we say, but in what we do to make this a reality.”
The Scottish Transgender Alliance is the Equality Network’s national project funded by the Scottish Government to secure greater equality for transgender people in Scotland:
For more information, click here:
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