The Government's response to the Gender Recognition Act consultation has missed a vital opportunity to improve the lives of trans people.

Deborah Gold, Chief Executive at National AIDS Trust, said: 

“The Government’s long-awaited response to the Gender Recognition Act consultation has missed a vital opportunity to improve the lives of trans people by leaving in place the very significant institutional burdens attached to gender recognition. 

The vast majority of people who responded asked the Government to make self-declaration of gender identity easier, and they’ve been let down. Instead, trans people are left having to undergo a complex and dehumanising process just to be able to declare their gender. 

HIV is driven by stigma, and transphobia feeds into this. That the Government wasted its opportunity to combat this is enormously disappointing. 

We welcome the announcement that three new Gender Identity clinics will be opened this year. We hope these will go some way to reducing the lengthy waiting times for accessing these services. We await detail on these proposals. 

The National AIDS Trust will continue to stand in solidarity with trans people as we fight these battles together.” 

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The Gender Recognition Act 2004 outlines the framework for people to change their legal gender. A consultation was launched in 2018 on the adequacy of the provisions of the act. The Government released its response to that consultation today.

Contact press@nat.org.uk for further information or comment.