Thread by @MForstater

My response to the Scottish Government's consultation on the gender recognition act

medium.com/@MForstater/lo…

The Scottish Government says that one of the strong reasons for its proposal for self ID is

“the need to move away from procedures which are seen as demeaning, intrusive, distressing and stressful”.

They base this on a survey of people with no particular experience of the current process.

My evidence is based on analysis of the minutes from the Gender Recognition Panel User Group and statistics from the tribunals service.

This evidence shows that: 75% of applications for a Gender Recognition Certificate receive a decision within 20 weeks, and many with 6–11 weeks. There is no backlog of applications.

Over 90% of applications are successful and receive a GRC. Around 300 GRCs are issued each year.

The panel are supportive of applicants — if they find that there is information missing (like someone not being clear about if they are married or not) they do not turn people down but issue ’directions’ to give people a chance to supply the additional documentation.

Overall the process costs between £100 and £560, including medical reports (by comparison the cost of applying to become a British citizen is £1300)

In user group meetings trans advocacy orgs Press for Change, GIRES, Beaumont Society and Scottish Trans Alliance and clinicians spoke freely over several years and did not describe the process as demeaning, intrusive or distressing.

This evidence suggests that the gender recognition process is adequately, efficiently and professionally serving the population it was designed for.

As one user wrote "I have never known any part of HMCTS to be as efficient and professional as the admin people at Leicester GRP"