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Britain urged to give transgender people full legal equality

by Magdalena Mis | @magdalenamis1 | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 14 January 2016 14:54 GMT

A rainbow flag flies with the Union flag above British Cabinet Offices, marking the first day Britain has allowed same sex marriages, in London March 29, 2014. REUTERS/Neil Hall

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Hostility experienced by transgender people undermines their careers, living standards and access to services

By Magdalena Mis

LONDON, Jan 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Britain has "a long way to go" to ensure full equality for transgender people and needs to update the law to give them the same opportunities as everyone else, a parliamentary committee said on Thursday.

The hostility experienced by transgender people on a daily basis undermines their careers, living standards and access to services, the Women and Equalities Committee, which monitors the performance of the government's Equalities Office, said in a report.

"Britain leads the way when it comes to many issues on LGB (rights) but not when it comes to trans issues," Maria Miller, the committee chairwoman, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"What we've seen in evidence given to the committee is that the law and service provision are lagging behind and causing considerable problems to trans people in their everyday lives.

There are no official statistics on the number of transgender people in Britain, but about one percent of the population identified with a different gender in 2011, according to the non-profit All About Trans' website.

Britain should modernise its "outdated" equality laws regulating gender change and allow gender self-declaration, the committee said after an inquiry into transgender equality.

It said gender self-declaration is already in place in countries including the Netherlands, Argentina, Denmark and Ireland.

It made more than 30 recommendations, including moving towards 'non gender' official records, strengthening hate crime legislation and reviewing treatment of transgender people in prisons.

"This is something that needs urgent action because trans people deserve to be able to live full and successful lives in the way that any other person does in this country," Miller said.

PRISON DEATHS

The recent deaths in custody of two trans women and the case of a trans woman placed in a men's prison were 'stark illustrations' of the issues transgender people face, the report said.

The committee said the National Health Service (NHS) was failing transgender people because of a lack of knowledge and understanding of transgender issues and urged the NHS to review its services.

Transgender expert Jay Stewart, who gave evidence to the inquiry, said the report was "incredibly positive".

"I think the report is an amazing job covering many, many aspects of activities that need to take place to ensure that trans people feel included and equal in society," Stewart, director of the non-profit Gendered Intelligence, said by phone.

Emily Brothers, Britain's first openly transgender parliamentary candidate, welcomed the report but was critical of what she said was the inquiry's failure to address the economic and social inequality that trans people experience.

Much more needs to be done to improve opportunities for transgender people, too many of whom experience poverty and employment discrimination, she said in a statement.

According to a poll published on Thursday by women's rights charity the Fawcett Society, more than 40 percent of British people believe that gender is not binary but fluid and can be expressed as a range of identities.

"The research done by the Fawcett Society ... shows the public opinion is well ahead of where our legislation and our public service provision is, and I think we need to move quickly on this," Miller said.

The committee urged the government to agree a new strategy for transgender equality within six months.

(Reporting by Magdalena Mis, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

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