has anyone completed the GRA consultation from the perspective of thinking it should be repealed altogether?

[RiverTam]

I'm going to complete the consultation this week. I'm glad that I've left it this late because over the months since it appeared I have changed my mind from leaving the GRA as it stands to repealing it altogether. I now no longer believe trans is a thing.

So, how to complete the form without feeling like I'm letting myself down - because I understand that it's couched in either reform it (ie self ID)or leave it.

Has anyone managed to do this?

I think the idea that you can change sex should be consigned to the dustbin!

Thanks everyone, this has been really helpful.

I asked about rights on a thread yesterday, but no one answered (I think the way I worded it might have come across as a bit goady, whereas it was a genuine question!)

Specifically, I was responding to this comment in an MPs reply to the OP of that thread and asking which rights and protections trans people did not have that everyone else does.

'The UK has made extraordinary progress in improving the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in recent years. However, there are still gaps in trans people's legal rights and protections and I believe more needs to be done to ensure people feel that the UK is a country in which identity is respected and supported.

I am genuinely interested so that I can word my consultation answers accordingly. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated

Gender means masculine or feminine.

So a transwoman is an effeminate male, not a woman.

No I didn't..however I do think that maybe thats the best way. The two things it was made for...gay marriage and equal pension rights are universal now anyway. I think its bonkers to allow birth certificates to be changed too..as does my transsexual family member! She can't see why anyone would bother with it these days, she can understand when marriage was an issue, but its not now. Now its basically just creating a lie for the sake of creating a lie.

Though, I flip flop a bit on this as apparently it does help peoples dysphoria a lot,. Though I don't see how really as they are not going to be sat staring at their altered birth certificate that they know is altered every day.

The legal fiction of changing sex was solely to enable a homophobic government to get around discrimination in access to marriage. It was never intended to be exploited in this way.

There will never be sufficient boundaries in any GRC process to restrict it entirely to the genuinely nice, well intentioned and innocent. Any process can and will be exploited, any professional can be manipulated, there are already well known and shared scripts online as to what to say in appointments to tick the boxes and get what is wanted. As with any safeguarding practice, it cant be done on an individual basis.

So yes, I agree. The only way it makes sense is to enable anyone to express their gender any way they choose, and have the same legal protections around discrimination regarding gender non conforming as for any other protected characteristic. Emphasis being on the same. And remove any legal fiction or confusion that it is possible to change sex, that the word 'woman' or 'man' should be separated from biology, or that sex as a concept should be replaced by an internal sense of gender.

However, there are still gaps in trans people's legal rights and protections

If some MP thinks this is true, then maybe they could state exactly what legal rights and protections trans people lack. Don't expect an answer from them, though, because trans people have exactly the same rights as everyone else.

You can write in the box without ticking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to questions, it will still be accepted.

I asked why it was needed any more given that there is now same sex marriage and civil partnership and GRA creates tension with rights in the Equality Act.

Why is sex (only) something you can legally change on all your documents via GRC when all the other protected characteristics you can’t legally change? Surely all should be up for change or none?

I specifically said in some of my responses that I thought the GRA should be repealed.

Specifically, in the section where the consultation asks about the applicant having to 'prove' they have 'lived in the preferred gender' I said that it was impossible to do this as a name change is not proof, and in fact it couldn't be proven because the only 'proof' is impossible to come by as you can't actually change sex.

It’s dead weird that a GRC means you get a reissued (essentially falsified) birth certificate.

No other changes to legal status get this treatment, new documents can make older ones irrelevant moving forward (a decree absolute beats an older marriage certificate in paperwork rock-paper-scissors) but they don’t actually rewrite the historical record.

I think it’s utterly bonkers that this ever came about, personally.

(Especially as it doesn’t mean much as a transman with a reissued ‘male’ birth certificate still can’t inherit the family title)

I started to fill in the consultation last night. I wondered why I was getting frustrated with my own answers. That'll be the leading questions then

Thanks this thread is really helpful, I'll go back to the beginning and add a lot more thoughts/ context to my answers

I just finished filling it in.