R0wantrees,
I still maintain that the Equality Act although used extensively by TG people is intended for TS people. The protected identity is Gender REASSIGNMENT not Gender IDENTITY.
If you go to the Equality And Human Rights Commission it says this...
^The Equality Act 2010 says that you must not be discriminated against because you are transsexual, when your gender identity is different from the gender assigned to you when you were born. For example:
a person who was born female decides to spend the rest of his life as a man
In the Equality Act it is known as gender reassignment. All transsexual people share the common characteristic of gender reassignment.
To be protected from gender reassignment discrimination, you do not need to have undergone any specific treatment or surgery to change from your birth sex to your preferred gender. This is because changing your physiological or other gender attributes is a personal process rather than a medical one.
You can be at any stage in the transition process – from proposing to reassign your gender, to undergoing a process to reassign your gender, or having completed it. ^
Another important point that EHRC makes is quote
A wide range of people are included in the terms ‘trans’ or ‘transgender’ but you are not protected as transgender unless you propose to change your gender or have done so.
Protection is about gender reassignment. By that definition sexual arousal from cross dressing up is NOT covered for example. Just because someone says they identify as the opposite gender doesnt give them that protected characteristic but unless there is an intent to transition then the Equality Act doesnt apply.
Indeed the act itself Part 2 / Chapter 1 / Section 7.3 says:
^In relation to the protected characteristic of gender reassignment—
(a)a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a transsexual person;
(b)a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to transsexual persons.^
The Equality Act is often quote but its being misused. The TG crowd rely on the statement
To be protected from gender reassignment discrimination, you do not need to have undergone any specific treatment or surgery to change from your birth sex to your preferred gender.
The context of this is intended to refer to a dysphoric person awaiting reassignment but from whom treatment has not had started. Sadly it is taken out of context.
By the letter of the law someone that sticks on a dress and walks into the ladies is NOT protected by EA. The problem of course is that no-one is going to challenge them because were they to be TS then they are protected.