Joe Harker
Transgender people could be excluded from single-sex spaces such as public toilets in accordance with new government plans.
Leaked sections of a guidance pack from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) allegedly say trans people would need to possess a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) or risk being denied access to certain places.
Reportedly, as few as 1% of the transgender community currently hold GRCs, meaning these plans could force large amounts of trans people to get legal recognition of their gender and require them to carry paperwork around.
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Vice reports that the plans are dated from the end of 2021, and advise shops, prisons and gyms to 'protect women' by banning trans people from single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms unless they can produce a GRC.
For a person to obtain a GRC, they would have to undergo medical assessments and psychiatric interviews to 'prove' their gender.
If these plans came into force, every trans person would have to undergo these assessments and interviews and hope they got the result they wanted.
The UK government does not recognise non-binary as a gender identity and says it has 'no plans' to do so. Last year, it rejected a petition to do so that was signed by around 136,000 people, saying there were 'complex practical consequences'.
Conservative MP Crispin Blunt said, 'It does now appear the rights of trans people are under direct assault in the UK from the public body they would, until now, have expected to be most steadfast in their defence.'
Vice also reports that former EHRC staff have told them that Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the EHRC, wanted to 'exclude trans people' from same-sex spaces in workplaces and businesses in order to 'protect women's rights'.
They say that whistleblowers told them Baroness Falkner was 'furious' when department store John Lewis introduced gender-neutral changing rooms and 'pushed for the EHRC to adopt a totally gender-critical position'.
Vice says the report has been written but not yet published, and that a spokesperson for the EHRC did not respond to specific points when questioned, also being unable to confirm or deny whether trans people would need GRCs to access single-sex spaces in the near-future.
A spokesperson for the EHRC said, 'We acknowledge that some EHRC staff have been unhappy, which we regret, and we are working hard to explain decisions and why they are in line with our statutory responsibilities.'
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