Should the Gender Recognition Act be repealed?

Totally agree - and if not then where is the race recognition act, the age recognition act, whatever else imutable trait recognition act. Its an utter farce driven primarily by male sexual privilege, should be in the bin.

Shed sums this batshittery up perfectly!

And this practice should be barred.

Haha that thread is hilarious.

The point of the certificate is that it can be used to obtain a new birth certificate showing incorrect information, which can be shown if asked for.

It is pretty pointless having a certificate that lies about your sex that you can't use because to show it means everyone knows you are lying. That nobody can ask to see due to privacy.

Brilliant lawmaking guys.

Of course it should.
Gender is absolute nonsense, and the fact that birth certificates and medical records can change the sex of a person is insane.

This is heartening. It means there is somewhere for data integrity to come back from.

I think it's stupid legislation and it stupid law should be binned. It does't have a real purpose.

Although I understand the argument about Europe, I actually don't care and think that there is no reason the UK should care about what they think either.

I have always wondered where Goodwin's children featured in the thinking of the ECHR.

Was nobody supposed to know of their existence?

Hilarious that one poster there attributed the GRA to the Conservatives, how embarrassing not even being aware of when and under which Government it was enacted. Facts and knowledge not their strong suit as is eveident in their knowledge on the Legal/Court system and why JM and his GLP find it so easy to fleece them.

@fantam yes, you’re thinking of the thing from November 2024 with the little girl accidentLly recorded as male and it was a solid computer says no

I did some digging and now know a lot about the General Record Office and requesting certificates and how amendments happen - it seems that they stick in marginalia if changes are made (eg paternity test results - presumably this erroneous sex)

it is quite different for a new birth certificate coming from a gender recognition. The old (true) record remains in perpetuity , and instead there is a register of Gender recognition certificates and the new birth certificates come from there (and link back to the official birth records as well.

This strangely makes me feel a bit better about the whole process, as one of my reservations had been the notion of rewriting history and denying reality for the sake of vanity.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/19/baby-girl-registered-wrong-sex-mansfield-registration-office

I do think that privacy was a reason, but even if it were possible to alter one’s physical appearance to completely pass as the opposite sex, the privacy part raises huge ethical questions about telling sexual partners your actual sex. Is there a legal obligation to do this ?

Wasn't there a situation where a baby was registered as the wrong sex and the parent(s) were unable to change it to the correct sex? I have no links it's just something I recall reading somewhere. Maybe it wasn't true!

If true, and I'm not sure about that, then how can a trans person change THEIR birth certificate? Maybe as said by pp, the underlying register doesn't change, just the certificate. And maybe that's also what happened with the baby mentioned. If true.

I’m pretty sure you can get the details on a copy of your birth certificate changed until the cows come home, but the actual birth register doesn’t get changed . I will have to dig for an actual source though…

Not sure if it’s because someone somewhere has the fear of messing with a primary source with a tippex, is future proofing genealogy, or just is engaged in reality

My feeling is that there is now always likely to be a "transgender" contingent of some kind, i.e. people who are clearly presenting and identifying very atypically for their natal sex. And if so, they are likely to be in some danger of genuine transphobia. Not "she misgendered me and said I couldn't use the Ladies' " but the real thing - nasty old-style "no Blacks and Irish"-type attitudes over housing, jobs and other actual basic rights.
So they will need to be in the Equality Act in some shape or form, but not in a way that tramples sex-based rights or any other protected characteristic's rights. I.e. protected as transgender rather than as a fictive member of the opposite sex.

In time, most likely yes........but for me it is not an urgent priority now.

Given time the fad will fade, as many detransitioners and others will come forward and talk of their experiences; and some will bring legal actions.

That's an interesting suggestion, thank you. Thanks for your post too PeppyHam. Good points, and they made me re-think.

The separation of 'sex' and 'gender' in law would be an improvment - defining them clearly would help! So yeah grand off you go knock yourself out, change your gender, but you remain legally in the sex you were born into.

That's what the SC said, but only in relation to EA2010, and possibly workplace regs, acc to Justice swift?

Here in Ireland the word 'sex' in old equality legislation has been re-interpreted as gender, [I'm not sure how that is legally permissable!] so that avenue is not open to us. Anywhere sex is mentioned in laws or regulations, it applies 100% to a man who self-IDs as female or vice versa.

It would be a dream come true if a FWS-style case came to the highest Irish court, with the same outcome, i.e. that 'sex' means biological sex, and being transgender does not change your sex.

But I don't see it happening here - the momentum isn't there, we don't have the numbers of GC activists here, and although I believe genderwoo has never really taken root in the general population, I don't think it impinges enough on most people's lives to have a big movement opposing it.

I suppose we could repatriate Helen Joyce and Róisín Murphy, and both Naomi Cunningham and Maeve Halligan would qualify under the Irish grandparent rule - dream team, eh?

They are especially emboldened after yesterday and they are now calling the GRA “Lying about sex” and are seeking their options. And of course in 2026 Britain with a weak transphobic Labour government they’ll probably get away with it.

If it wasn't for those pesky kids...

If only! Let's all go back to the the year 2000, won't it be strange how normal all was then.

As long as the supreme court ruling is upheld and the Equality Act followed as intended, I believe the GRA 2004 is more of a platitude to those wanting a gender certificate. The issue of changing historical records ie. Birth Certificates is something I fail to understand how anyone thought a good idea.

Wow. That’s brilliant. Something I’ve never thought of.

Totally agree with your friend, it’s a lie to change a birth certificate and should not be possible