The Women’s Human Rights Campaign (WHRC), which is known for trans-exclusion, has urged MPs to scrap the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) following an inquiry by the national Women and Equalities Select Committee, which could see the GRA become more trans-friendly. Following another delay to reforming the GRA in 2020, Caroline Nokes, a Tory MP who chairs the select committee, launched a new inquiry into trans equality in the UK, with the hopes it could speed up the reformation process.
Nokes previously told PinkNews: “There’s clearly a great deal more that the government could be doing in this area. It’s part of the committee’s job to keep scrutinising them, pushing them and getting the answers. And I know this isn’t going to be an easy inquiry” but said it feels the current GRA reforms are currently at a “standstill”, with greater action being needed. Nokes’ inquiry, which calls for evidence that trans equality is lacking in the UK, was then criticised by the WHRC, which called for the GRA to be repealed altogether because it is “fatally flawed” and “creates great confusion and leads to the idea that men and women can change sex”.
The WHRC also said that being trans or gender diverse is a phase, writing in a submission to Nokes: “Transgenderism is a social and historical construction not a biological one, and will increase or decrease as a result of social forces…[Non-binary people have also] been produced by popular culture and may not exist in the future”. Although the submission was written last year, it has only just come to public attention. The WHRC has a handful of supporting organisations listed on its website, many of which are infamous anti-trans groups such as the LGB Alliance and Standing for Women, all of which have opposed trans-inclusive reforms to the GRA.
