AOIFE O’DRISCOLL - Village Magazine

24 March 2015

HE Report and Final Stage debates on

the Gender Recognition Bill 2014 have

now concluded in Seanad Eireann. The

Bill will now proceed to the Dáil in March.

The Minister responsible for this legislation,

Labour’s Kevin Humphreys, only accepted

two signiﬁcant amendments in the Seanad.

The ﬁrst amendment is that the Bill will

contain a provision for the legislation to be

reviewed in two years. This is welcome. It

oﬀers the opportunity to deal with problems

in its implementation. Unfortunately, it might

also be needed to address the weaknesses that

remain in the current Bill, unless these are

resolved in the Dáil.

The second amendment is that the phrase

“medical evaluation” has been removed from the

medical criteria. However, the Bill still requires that

a primary-treating medical practitioner, deﬁned as a

psychiatrist or endocrinologist, provide a letter con-

ﬁrming that the applicant for gender recognition is

trans. This medicalises and pathologises the identi-

ties of trans people.

It fails to diﬀerentiate between medical transition, a

process where some of us may seek appropriate gender-

conﬁrming healthcare, and legal transition, a process

where, independent of healthcare, we seek to have

our true civil status recognised. It makes an explicit

assumption that all trans people will undergo a med-

ical transition when, for a variety of reasons, many

trans people do not. Medical criteria disrespect the dig-

nity and agency of trans people and pathologise trans

identities.

During the debates on the Bill, Senators were almost

unanimous in their criticism of this element of the Bill.

They were equally critical of two further elements that

have also not been addressed. These were the need for

applicants for gender recognition to be single and the

absence of protection for, and acknowledgement of,

young trans people.

A substantial number of amendments was oﬀered on

a cross-party basis by Senators to address these obvious

deﬁciencies in the Bill. Yet, despite strong arguments

in favour of human-rights-based changes, founded on

best-practice models elsewhere which place the lives of

trans people at the centre, the Minister stated he was

not in a position to accept the proposed changes.

It is incredibly unfortunate that the voices of trans

people were not listened to, and that their needs and

experiences were not given due consideration. There

are serious problems with this Bill, and they simply

must be addressed if this legislation is to serve the

needs of the very people it is supposed to protect.

As it currently stands, only people who are single will

be allowed to apply to have their gender recognised.

This eﬀectively forces trans people who are married or

in civil partnerships to terminate our legal union before

being granted formal recognition for our gender iden-

tity. This forces people to choose between their family

and their right to legal recognition of their identity, an

impossible decision for anybody to have to make. It is

an intolerable burden placed on the families of trans

people, that is not placed on any other Irish families.

“But in the eyes of my State, the man I have become

does not exist”, were the words of a young trans man

read into the record during the Seanad debates. Trans

people under 16 years of age are excluded from being

legally recognised even if they have parental support.

Lack of legal recognition has negative social and mental

health implications. Trans children and young people

are among the most isolated young people in Irish soci-

ety and excluding them from legal gender recognition

only increases their marginalisation.

The requirements for individuals who are 16-17 years

old to gain recognition are also extremely onerous and

eﬀectively exclude those with no parental consent from

gaining recognition before turning 18 years of age.

Young people have to use their birth certiﬁcates when

enrolling in school and college, participating in sports,

and pursuing the CAO process. They are left at risk of

being outed (their trans status disclosed) which can

lead to bullying, harassment and even violence. There

is a failure to acknowledge a core element of their iden-

tities which can exacerbate feelings of stigmatisation,

isolation and exclusion.

It has been made very clear what changes need to

be made in this Bill. The deﬁciencies simply must be

addressed as the Bill is considered in the Dáil. •

Aoife O’Driscoll is the Communications Manager at

Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI).

Pathologising

Gender Bill fails

to diﬀerentiate

medical

transition from

legal transition;

and does not

embrace married

or young trans

AOIFE O’DRISCOLL

Listen, Mr Humphreys