Transformative - Village Magazine

September/October 2015 31

HE Dáil passed the Gender Recognition Act last July.

This legislation allows transgender people to be

legally recognised in their preferred gender. It was a

joyous moment for the transgender community. It is

great to see this legislation passed before the cele-

brations in . Now the Proclamation means so much more

for me. I feel cherished equally in my country as a proud Irish

woman.

I lived as male for over  years until I transitioned to my

female gender eight years ago. This was very painful for all

involved. However, it vastly improved my mental health and,

over time, people close to me began to understand my circum-

stances and decision. Living within a gender that I didn’t

identify with, from as far back as I remember, was extremely

challenging.

I experienced shame and guilt due to internalising the

stigma associated with trans people. This damaged my

thought processes about my identity. I thought I was disgust-

ing and some sort of a mistake as a human. This perception

was compounded by media messages that also shaped atti-

tudes within the wider society and exacerbated the stigma.

It was during the late s while I was watching the news

that I questioned my perceptions for the ﬁrst time. The item

was about a dentist from the midlands, Dr Lydia Foy, ﬁghting

for her human right to be identiﬁed by the state in the gender

that she identiﬁed as – a woman. From that moment I began to

change my thoughts and feelings about myself and decided to

ﬁght back.

I expressed myself in my female gender, against the odds. I

volunteered with a LGBT group in Waterford. When I began to

work with TENI in March , I was ready to take on the

spirit of Dr Foy to build an awareness of and capacity for the

transgender community throughout Ireland. Over the past six

years I feel we have achieved this to some extent, but there is

still lots to do.

Legal recognition means we are ﬁnally being recognised as

human beings by the Irish state in the gender that we identify.

This is empowering. The model of self-declaration in the legis-

lation means that we do not have to ask a psychiatrist,

psychologist or endocrinologist to decide on our gender iden-

tity. This provides us with the licence to be human.

Legal recognition means that every time I have to produce

documentation to prove who I am, I have the right identiﬁca-

tion that shows me as I am, not who I was. Now I can avoid

that embarrassment for both myself and the civil servants

involved. I don’t have to be anxious. How good that feels! Most

importantly I have documentation that reﬂects my true

gender.

It is all very positive but what about the families, especially

the families of children who are under ? The current legis-

lation does not meaningfully include young trans people, and

excludes anyone under . However, transgender children do

exist and we are seeing an increase in their numbers every

year. These children are very vulnerable. In many cases they

have been trying to explain to their parents that there is

something diﬀerent about them for many years. Parents often

feel confused, scared and angry when faced with their chil-

dren’s gender identity and should seek help.

These families are faced with the decision to allow their

child to dress and express themselves in the gender with

which they identify at home so as to reduce anxiety for all

involved, and, in some cases, to allow their child to transition

in school, both national and secondary. This is a situation that

causes sleepless nights and angst-ridden days.

Many parents experience loss and grief but still, through

the love for their child, they advocate on their behalf. Unfor-

tunately those wonderfully courageous parents, siblings and

young transgender children have been ignored by our legisla-

tors for now. They are not protected in the legislation and this

is sad. As an optimist I am trusting the legislators will read-

dress the issue in two years time as they have promised us. I

hope this will top oﬀ very progressive and ground breaking

legislation.

In the eight years since I began my journey to be myself I

have faced many challenges. Gender recognition is an impor-

tant step but we need this to cascade into a holistic form of

care for our community.

Vanessa Lacey is the Health and Education Manager at Transgender

Equality Network Ireland (TENI)

Trans legislation is progressive but needs to include children too. By Vanessa Lacey

Transformative

POLITICS Trans Rights

I thought I was

disgusting and

some sort of

a mistake as a

human

“