An inquiry by the Women and Equalities committee, headed by Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, has urged the government to reform the Gender Recognition Act after failing to do so and then abandoning reforms in 2020. In the 113-page inquiry, the committee calls for improved trans rights, which includes removing the need for trans people to receive a diagnosis of gender dysphoria before they can be legally recognised by 2023.
Based on an “unprecedented amount of evidence submitted to a House of Commons select committee”, the inquiry also suggests eliminating the legal requirement that trans people live in their “acquired gender” for two years before they can obtain official recognition. Other requests include establishing a more effective healthcare system for trans and non–binary people, and reviewing the “currently opaque” Gender Recognition Panel.
In a statement, Nokes said that the GRA is “crying out for modernisation”, adding: “The government’s failure to implement even these changes – made clear in its consultation – suggest its lack of willingness to engage…Being trans is not an illness. It is imperative that the government de-medicalise the process of gender recognition by removing the outdated requirement for a gender dysphoria diagnosis.”