Trans People's Experience of Domestic Abuse

In this paper, the author demonstrates the differences in ‘quality of life’ for transgender and transsexual (trans) people in Hong Kong with that of trans people in the United Kingdom, before 2013. Consideration is given to the demonstrable differences in legal protections from prejudice and discrimination, and the requirement, in Hong Kong, that trans people undergo full genital reconstruction surgery in order to get changes made to identity documentation, in comparison to the United Kingdom where there is no such requirement in the United Kingdom’s Gender Recognition Act 2004. The chapter recaps research undertaken in the United Kingdom and Europe during the 1990s which highlighted the inadequacy of legal protection in both employment, and when accessing goods, services, housing and facilities. By looking at the early challenges to UK law for trans people in particular the cases of Rees v the UK Government 1986) and Cossey v the UK Government (1990) at the European Court of Human Rights, one can see the failure of the Courts to comprehend what were the real issues for trans people. The chapter then reviews the 1992 founding of the United Kingdom’s trans activist group, Press For Change, and the group’s campaigns; social education through the popular press, the lobbying of Parliament and Government, and also challenging the failure of the United Kingdom government to make appropriate legal changes through taking key cases to the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. Initially, Press For Change’s campaigns did not win everything it fought for, but the paper outlines the significance of Court victories which included protection from discrimination whilst in employment, the rights to relationship recognition, and notably, the impact the campaigns had on the public’s awareness of the concerns and difficulties faced by trans people in the United Kingdom. The paper concludes by comparing the changes introduced into United Kingdom law by the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and compares these with the decision of Hong Kong’s Supreme Court in W v the Registrar of Marriages (2013), and how the failure to respond to this decision continues to leave Hong Kong’s trans community facing inappropriate and unnecessary hardships.

2016

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 has been hailed as radical 1 and groundbreaking 2 legislation and it can clearly be considered to be a successful piece of legislation because between coming into force on 4 April 2005 and the third quarter of financial year 2013/14 it provided full legal recognition of one's gender identity to 3,664 individuals and interim recognition to 173 individuals; only 180 applications had been refused and 93 applications have been withdrawn. 3 So clearly the law is doing what it was intended to do. However the legislation is not without its problems and it is far from perfect. This thesis argues that the UK Government, when enacting the legislation, adopted the medical model of transsexualism as understood within medicine in 2003/04 which resulted in the legislation enacting strong gatekeeper roles for medical professionals and the Gender Recognition Panel which means that it is difficult for one to obtain legal recognition of one's gender identity under UK law. The thesis proposes that an alternative model of legal recognition based on gender self-declaration is possible and would achieve the same outcome but with less difficulties for the individual.

Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and the Law

This chapter focuses on concerns raised by the UK Government’s consultation on the future of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004) in relation primarily to the law in England and Wales. Therefore, it relates mostly to those trans people who wish to apply for legal recognition of the affirmed gender identity, whose birth was registered in England or Wales, and those born outside of the UK, but who are currently residing in the United Kingdom. Gender recognition is a devolved matter for those people whose birth was registered in Scotland. They apply under the same broad legislation, but there are small differences reflecting what is an (unexpectedly) more liberal, realistic and understanding approach to trans people’s lives by others in Scotland. Gender recognition is also a devolved matter in Northern Ireland. But since the collapse of the power sharing agreement in the Northern Irish Assembly in March 2017, the assembly has not sat. Until the Assembly next sits, any changes made in the meantime to the GRA are unlikely to be implanted for those whose birth was registered in Northern Ireland.

Newsminute, 2017

For the Bill to be truly sensitive, there is a need for policy makers and medical professionals to consult closely with a wide range of trans persons to understand that being transgender is not as simple as the absence or presence of particular sexual organs or functions, but a much more organic, diverse expansion of definitions and pre-conceived notions. It would lead to not just a Bill that ensures dignified living for the transgender community, but to a respectful learning by the others of the diverse definition of what being transgender means.

2012

This report addresses complex issues related to discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and gender expression, as well as discrimination on grounds of sex vis-à-vis intersex people. The report also clarifies the definitions used in the context of trans discrimination, and the terms used by the community to represent the diversity within it. This study highlights the obstacles and negative attitudes faced by this community and the difficulties with regard legal recognition and rights. The report also extensively examines the influence of EU law, including case law, on trans discrimination and provides case studies of national legislation and case-law on gender identity and gender expression discrimination of some Member States where there are promising approaches which can and should serve as models for others to follow.

This year, on 20th November 2015, Transgender Day of Remember (TDoR) received more recognition than ever before. This reflects the increasing visibility of trans people in social life, but social exclusion and rates of discrimination for trans people remain high. The purpose of this briefing note is to highlight findings from a study which explored trans1 people's experiences of domestic violence and abuse (DVA), their social care needs and whether they accessed support through social care or supported housing provision. A brief overview of the project is presented in order to contextualise the distinctiveness and importance of the study's findings. These findings uncover the barriers to service provision as well the identification of some enablers. I end with some recommendations for practice.

Feminist Legal Studies, 2005

This paper argues, first, that the legal construction of transsexualism is a matter of interest, not only to members of the trans community, but to all students of gender, including feminists. The paper then proceeds to explain and analyse, using feminist perspectives, key aspects of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 in the light of the recent caselaw concerning the rights of trans persons. The 2004 Act, it is argued, is a conservative move, which attempts to deny the threat transsexualism poses to the binary system of gender, by instigating a system to formally 'recognise' only men and or women. However, the way in which the Act constructs the public/private divide and the mind/body relation carries potential for legal recognition of subject positions which may in a variety of ways be 'beyond' the binary system that is currently orthodox. The paper can as such be read as a case study in the legal (re)construction of gender, the gender/sex relation, and the widespread tendency to construct gender conservatively.

Journal of Indian Legal Thought , 2020

Trans identity is clouded with genetic mystery and socio-religious superstitions, which has created a distorted version of trans person lived experiences. This incomplete understanding of trans identity is also reflected in Transgender Persons (Right to Protection) Act, 2019. The act essentialise trans identity based on bodily features and sex characteristics, it also focused heavily on the hijra community, neglecting the diverse expression of gender identities beyond heteronormative patriarchal structures. The act denied the right to self-identification to transgender individuals, annihilating them with a sense of self. The act also fails to recognise the historical injustice and discrimination faced by transgender persons by denying the appropriate affirmative actions as suggested in NALSA judgement by Supreme Court including reservation for transgenders. Though the act provides transgender persons protection from sexual assault, but at the same time it deemed trans lives as less valuable than cis-gender women by penalising sexual assault on transgender person with imprisonment of six months to two years while in certain cases sexual assault on cis-gender woman can result in life imprisonment. The Transgender Persons Act is a flawed attempt to include transgender community into mainstream society, which has witnessed erasure and silencing of their existence since colonial times. The complexities of trans identity and its interaction with other forms of identity such as caste, class, religion, ability etc. are also not acknowledged in the act. The Transgender Persons Act adopts a paternalistic approach towards trans individuals, devoicing them with any agency they have and moulding them into passive victims.