Transgender rights in the United Kingdom
[25][26] However, in a separate case (AB v CD and others), the High Court ruled in March 2021 that parents are allowed to give consent on behalf of their children to receive puberty blockers without having to gain a judge's approval.
[27] In April 2022, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid announced an inquiry into gender treatment for children, following concerns raised in the interim report of the Cass Review.
The Times reported Javid having "likened political sensitivities over gender dysphoria to officials' fear of being labelled racist if they investigated abuse by men of Pakistani heritage in Rotherham".
[42] In May 2024, the then Health Secretary Victoria Atkins implemented an emergency three-month ban on private prescriptions of puberty blockers which went into effect on 3 June 2024 and was set to expire on 3 September 2024.
[58] In the NHS's "Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment -2022" [59] of the proposed changes, it addressed potential concerns of discrimination based on the legally protected characteristic of "gender reassignment" by stating not all of the patients impacted by the proposal will be allowed to access such care by the NHS, and thus "To apply such a definition to these individuals is to make assumptions upon the aims and intentions of those referred, the certainty of those desires and their outward manifestation, and upon the appropriate treatment that may be offered and accepted in due course".
This important subject is complex and is constantly evolving, and as a result, like many other national governing bodies in sport, we are currently reviewing our transgender policy for English football.
[70] This followed a 2022 decision by the international swimming body FINA, World Aquatics, which issued guidelines that prevent trans women competing in female categories if they experienced male puberty "beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later".
[citation needed] Guidance issued in September 2021 by England Netball states that transgender women may compete in the female category, subject to satisfactory evidence regarding testosterone levels.
In June 2020, a report published by the European Commission ranked the procedure established in the Gender Recognition Act 2004 as amongst the worst in Europe, placing the UK into cluster 2 alongside Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland, Austria, Estonia, Spain and Italy, which the report classified as "least accessible procedures (cluster 1 and 2)" with "intrusive medical requirements... often combined with a requirement of diagnosis of gender dysphoria", which means it now lags behind international human rights standards.
"[107] This law provides protection for transgender people at work, in education, as a consumer, when using public services, when buying or renting property, or as a member or guest of a private club or association.
[111] In addition to the basic legal protection afforded by the Equality Act 2010, the UK government has published good practice guidance on providing services that are inclusive of trans people as customers, clients, users or members.
[114] On 31 March 2022, a Downing Street briefing paper leaked to ITV News showed that the government had planned to drop proposed legislation banning conversion therapy, following an announcement that ministers would explore non-legislative methods of handling the practice.
Arthur Corbett, the plaintiff, sought a method of dissolving his marriage to the model April Ashley, who had brought a petition under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1965 for maintenance.
As a result of Justice Roger Ormrod's decision, the marriage was deemed void, and an unofficial correcting of birth certificates for transsexual and intersex people ceased.
[121] In the 1980s and 1990s, the pressure group Press for Change campaigned in support for transgender and transsexual people to be allowed to marry,[122] and helped take several cases to the European Court of Human Rights.
[134] Sharpe argues that while the proposal might introduce the better balance of human rights between the trans suspects and the complaints as before, CPS is still making policies via hetero- and cis-normative lenses nonetheless.
[141][142] In response, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suggested that the UK would, for the first time in its history, invoke Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to veto the law, over concerns for "women's and children's safety".
[144] On 16 January 2023, the UK Government invoked Section 35 of the Scotland Act for the first time and blocked the new law from taking effect,[145][146] an action that raised questions regarding Scottish devolution.
Sasha Misra, associate director of Communications for Stonewall, stated in response that "a dip in public support on some trans issues is only to be expected, given the excessive and incendiary level of coverage we have seen in the media over the last few years".
"[185] The UK-wide public consultation on reforming the process of obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate, launched by the government of Theresa May in 2018,[186][187] has led to a "toxic culture war," according to CNN.
The report further summarised that such attacks "deliberately mischaracterise the fight for the equality of LGBTI people as so-called 'gender ideology' and seek to stifle the identities and realities of all those who challenge the social constructs that perpetuate gender inequalities and gender-based violence in our societies.
In an interview in the article, political economist from the University of London, Lisa Tilley said "The media shamefully advances this transphobic frontier, with both the right-wing press and ostensibly leftist outlets.
Professor Stephen Whittle OBE of Manchester Metropolitan University was quoted describing Cherry as having "antagonism to trans people's privacy rights as clarified by the European Courts", and characterised the development as "an incalculable loss to justice and parliament's role in protecting the UK's minorities".
[217] British journalist Janice Turner was awarded for her comment journalism in December 2018, despite being criticised by LGBT+ campaigners, the trans community, and openly gay MP Stephen Doughty for "whipping up inflammatory prejudice against transgender people.
"[218] The BBC, the United Kingdom's public broadcaster, has frequently drawn criticism from both pro-transgender activist groups and British politicians for its reporting on and policies towards trans issues.
In December 2020, the head of the UK media regulator Ofcom issued a condemnation the BBC for balancing appearances by transgender people with activists from gender-critical groups, calling it "extremely inappropriate".
It drew particular attention for the inclusion of comments from former American female pornographic actress Lily Cade, who wrote a blog post after the article's publication calling for the "lynching" of trans women.
[232][233] In February 2022, Vice News reported that it had been leaked sections of an unpublished EHRC guidance pack dating to late 2021, which advised businesses and organisations to exclude transgender people from single-sex spaces - including toilets, hospital wards, and changing rooms - unless they held a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).
Vice reported that the guidance, which had been due to be released in January 2022, but had not been published as of February 2022[update], was aimed at "[protecting] women", and that just 1% of trans people in the UK held a GRC.
[238] In March 2020, The Times columnist Janice Turner accused the charity Mermaids, which offers support for trans youth, of grooming for introducing an exit button on its website in response to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
