New draft policies for the UK’s 500,000 civil servants would block some trans staff from using single-sex spaces such as toilets, and force staff to accept transphobic views in the workplace.
Senior civil servants have told VICE News that they are “terrified” by the proposed plans, which were leaked to them.
The 39-page document produced by the Cabinet Office and the Government People Group is expected to be published within weeks.
The document outlines proposed changes to the UK Civil Service’s “Gender Identity and Intersex policies”. There are around half a million UK Civil Service employees – they are politically impartial officials who support the functioning of central government departments, such as probation officers, who are a part of the Ministry of Justice, or Jobcentre staff, who work for the Department for Work and Pensions.
The new policies state civil servants should equally recognise “gender critical beliefs” and “gender identity beliefs” – meaning that employees can openly share controversial views on trans lives without being penalised.
Responding to this policy, a trans civil servant – who did not want to be identified in fear of losing their job – told VICE News: “My existence is not a belief. How can my safety be just as important as someone’s belief that I shouldn’t be safe? This feels like it was written by someone gender critical, just to give transphobes more clout.”
The leaked document also proposes “changes on access to toilets'', so that only trans people with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) can use single-sex facilities.
Article continues at https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aka9y/leaked-document-exposes-transphobic-draft-guidelines-for-uk-civil-servants
This, if true, seems to contrast with guidance for Parliamentary staff https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4805464-parliamentary-staff-urged-to-police-pronouns-and-identify-transphobia