@Winewinewinegin What is this new line in the comments about HF's article being incorrect under law? Someone is saying the article is wrong because it is confusing the GRA reform with freedoms given in the EA2012. What does this mean? Is it accurate?
(There are far more knowledgeable people on here- please correct me if I misspeak).
The article conflates the proposed changes to the GRA and the existing EA, because they need to be seen together. The EA makes gender reassignment a protected characteristic.
If an amended GRA makes assigning your gender something that anyone can do by filling in a form then I (a man) could fill in said form, probably wait a month or so, then wander into my local female only gym and sit in the changing room watching the boobies go by. If the gym objected, I could use the EA to force their compliance. Imagine how risky this gets when you start talking about prisons and refuges.
I should point out that organisations can still treat sex and gender differently under the EA, but they don't; someone with a driving licence that says they are female will, in practice, always be treated as a woman. Some feminists oppose even this, but with the present medical diagnosis being required for a GRC the safeguards are much better than under the proposed changes.
The potential problems with the proposed GRA are much broader than my silly and reductive example makes out- if biological women don't exist as a class, recognised by the government, then systems which errode sexism (albeit too slowly) don't work properly anymore- but you get the gist.