Thread by @TransLegalProj

1/13 An attempt to destroy trans people's rights with legislation (specifically attacking those WITH a Gender Recognition Certificate) is on the way...

2/13 An amendment to a police, crime, sentencing & courts bill is due to be tabled in the House of Lords tomorrow by a Conservative Peer with support from a DUP colleague.
bills.parliament.uk/bills/2839/sta….

3/13 If passed it would require transgender people with a GRC to be housed in the prison estate that matches their sex registered originally at birth, if they are convicted of a violent or sexual offence or if remanded in custody suspected of one.

4/13 This would mean that even a trans woman with formal legal recognition of her sex after a full physical transition & who is even suspected of an assault could end up in a male prison (also most likely impacting the poorest trans women who can't afford good legal advice).

5/13 The bigger intent is clearly to keep trans women out of the female prison estate in breach of their human rights.

6/13 We note that this keen interest in prison policy seems to have emerged only recently within those who support moves like this. Until the current moral panic got underway, it seems that few had much real interest in the welfare of prisoners - of any sex. #strange

7/13 And in a strangely bizarre twist, even given the minds this initiative springs from, this amendment only targets trans women WITH GRCs i.e trans women who have been through a complicated, (until recently) financially costly, bureaucratic and legally established process.

8/13 The vast majority of these women are likely to have made medical transitions as it remains hard to obtain a GRC without one.

9/13 It would in fact continue to be possible to hold the approximately 97% of trans women who do NOT have a GRC in the women's estate at the discretion of the Ministry of Justice.

10/13 If this amendment became law, then it would certainly breach the Human Rights Act. See R v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] EWHC 2220 (Admin) bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/… Luckily, it probably won't.

11/13 However, once 'Gender Critical' activists started to lose in court (as they have been), we did expect that they would turn to the legislature. They are likely to increasingly try to use Parliament to destroy the lives of trans people in the UK.

12/13 This amendment, which seems to be their first real attempt, is a complete dog's breakfast and is very likely to fail.

13/13 But we know that they will be back. With better-drafted legislation and wider attacks on the human rights of trans people in the UK. Trans people and our allies must be ready to fight them. @GoodLawProject @NetworkGender @stonewalluk