New council website; "we use gender identity rather than gender reassignment"

[MrsSnippyPants]

Our local councils amalgamated into one big 'super council' as of yesterday, so I thought I would wander about the website and found this under 'Our equality duties under the Equality Act':

"Protected characteristics

The Equality Act introduced the term 'protected characteristics to refer to groups that are protected under the Act, these are:

age
disability
gender reassignment*
marriage and civil partnership
race
religion or belief
sex
sexual orientation

It is important to note that carers are also protected through association to any of the above 9 characteristics.

In addition, due to what we know about our local communities in Dorset we also consider under other socially excluded groups:

people who are rurally isolated
people on low incomes/in poverty
single parents
people with a military background and their families

• Gender reassignment - in Dorset, we use gender identity rather than gender reassignment - ie how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth."

Are they allowed to change protected characteristics like this?!

Oh bum - ours merged too and it was ok - need to recheck.

It's not really the same thing.
I think it was Cambridgeshire that was challenged on this recently and did change their wording.
Gender reassignment does mean something more specific than how you see yourself.

Are they allowed to change protected characteristics like this?!

Absolutely not. They need to reflect the law as it is, not make up what they’d prefer.

The EA is the law so the protected characteristics can't be changed. It's so bloody exhausting to have to keep checking everything as they chip away at our rights isn't it?

They list Stonewall as one of their advisors

work with external benchmarking organisations, such as Disability Confident, Stonewall and Mindful Employer to ensure that the Council is a leader in equality, diversity and inclusion

Are they allowed to change protected characteristics like this?!

I suppose they may be allowed to add to the protected characteristics, but not remove any. And it depends on how it's implemented. Recognising gender identity at the expense of gender reassignment or sex could see them in breach of the EA?

It is very poor/unwise practice to deviate from the Equality Act in terms of definitions.

This is because the Council has a number of duties which they need to comply with by reference to the defined protected characteristics and very hard to show this if they adopt a different definition. They are a provider of services and public functions under section 29 and have a duty not to directly discriminate, indirectly discriminate, harass anyone on grounds of a defined protected characteristic

Also they are under the public sector equality duty under s149 as follows
"A public authority must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to—

(a)eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act;

(b)advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;

(c)foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it."

Ironically in creating a policy which seeks to broaden the category of gender reassignment to gender identity they may well have breached s149 by failing to have due regard to any effect it could have on any other protected characteristic (prob didn't do EIA which whilst not compulsory does provide evidence of compliance)

I wonder if any of their stonewall advisors have any legal expertise?

I have screenshotted the original page and have used the feedback form to ask them to correct it.

I strongly encourage you to raise it with your local councilor face to face at her/his next surgery. The law needs to be quoted correctly.

New SuperBournemouth Council seems to have the law right, even if their headline is confused:

www.bournemouth.gov.uk/councildemocratic/EqualityDiversity/EqualityAct2010.aspx

And the Govt document they reference seems confused about 'Changing Sex' but says nowt about gender:

www.bournemouth.gov.uk/councildemocratic/EqualityDiversity/Documents/EqualityAct2010SummaryGuidetoyourrights.pdf

Good idea CallMeWoman

"Gender reassignment - in Dorset, we use gender identity rather than gender reassignment - ie how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth."

Stonewall and others are lobbying for "gender reassignment" to be replaced with "gender identity" in legislation. It is wholly inappropriate for the council to support their lobbying.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/recommended-code-of-practice-for-local-authority-publicity

2.6 The principle of objectivity requires local authority publicity to be politically impartial. The Publicity Code acknowledges that a council has to be able to explain its decisions and justify its policies, but this should not be done in a way that can be perceived as a political statement or a commentary on contentious areas of public policy.

Digging further, they also provide a link to this factesheet:

www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/your-council/equality-and-diversity/pdfs/community-research-and-consultation/gender-identity-factsheet.pdf

JFC.......

Dorset Council factsheet quote:

"this has the result that their body did not develop before birth in such a way as to match their brain."

Let me guess. Training provided by Diversity Trust?

I just don't even know where to start with that 'fact' sheet. The council certainly should not be linking to it.

this has the result that their body did not develop before birth in such a way as to match their brain."

No, that's a step way too far. That's a belief, an article of faith belonging to a specific ideology and political lobby. It cannot be stated as fact, it isn't and it's wholly inappropriate to be the narrative of the council. They might as well state that the world was created in seven days and there is only one God. It would be equally offensive and inappropriate.

Human rights: right to belief. Council's duty to not state religious articles of faith as fact or evangelise/convert citizens from their privileged position of trust and authority.

and subtext: check what the fuck nonsense is being written into your documentation by unqualified nutjobs that actually breaches the law. Due Diligence is supposed to be a Thing.

WOw so they are saying the brain has a gender / sex characteristics?

I feel so degraded by that , like I am somehow flawed as a human

Every little step I have made showing people around me that I am a capable scientist, changing minds albeit slowly over the decades , wiped out in a stupid, false statement that they are using to justify policy

a fact sheet outlining key information about gender identity, commissioned by Dorset Equality Partnership, written by the Intercom Trust, with input from the ESW Transgender Network

The factsheet continually uses the phrase "true gender" for the gender people identify as.

That phrase is going to catch on... and not in a good way...

...it also states:

"Some people however were born with a medical condition called gender dysphoria"

BORN with gender dysphoria???

It really should be illegal to consistently misrepresent the law like this.

• should also be illegal to state unsubstantiated theory as fact.

It really should be illegal, and accountable, for a government body to consistently misrepresent reality, facts and law like this. This is fucking outrageous, how dare they use tax payer money for this?