Done, thanks for this. Included this which I think sums up how I feel.
^My concerns are only around a minority of men using this as a means of entering female sex segregated spaces. The majority if people who identify as trans are MtF, that is, transwomen. The majority of them do not have surgery, many also eschew hormone therapies. Given that, how are we to tell the difference between a truly trans identified person and a person who is claiming to be trans for nefarious reasons?This is particularly worrying when you consider places women are vulnerable such as domestic violence shelters, healthcare settings, school settings or prisons.
To be clear, I'm not saying that transpeople are a threat to women simply due to the fact they are trans. Quite the contrary, I'm certain that people who suffer from gender dysphoria simply want to live their lives quietly with as little suffering as possible. I can understand how removing the current restrictions required for a GRC can seem to be a way to improve trans lives in this respect. However there is a huge lack of consideration given to the possible implications I have outlined already.
As previously mentioned many trans identified people are trans only insofar as their outward appearance, with no surgeries or hormones. This is an individual choice, and I'll happily use preferred pronouns etc. But where do you draw the line? Are all men who wear dresses trans? Are women who avoid make up trans? If often the only thing that makes someone trans or not is their clothing and appearance, how do you know what constitutes trans or not?
This brings me back to my earlier point. Say you have two people who were born male. Both have male bodies, no surgery, no hormones. Both dress as women, both say they are trans, both prefer to be called 'she'. One has gender dysphoria. One finds it sexually arousing to change in a women's changing room. How do you know which one? How do you safeguard women from the second one? The answer is, you put in place restrictions for who can legally be recognised as female. This means those who have clinical gender dysphoria have a way to become recognised legally. Those who don't are very unlikely to go through that process.
The proposed changes are essentially to remove these safeguards.^