Free Republic

The government has abandoned plans to let people officially change gender without medical checks - but ministers have promised to make the process cheaper and "more straightforward". In its response to a consultation on the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, the government concluded that "the balance struck in this legislation is correct". "There are proper checks and balances in the system and also support for people who want to change their legal sex," women and equalities minister Liz Truss said in a written statement to parliament on Tuesday. By sticking with the current legislation, the government has backtracked on former prime...

Irish feminists have hit out at a group of British trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) who have organized a meeting in Ireland as part of their campaign to oppose Britain’s proposed Gender Recognition Act (GRA). The proposed GRA would end the requirement that trans people obtain a doctor’s diagnosis before they can officially change their gender. In 2015, Ireland passed a similar act that allows self-identification — namely, gives an individual the right to change their gender and apply for a new birth certificate without medical treatment. At the time, Ireland was hailed by Human Rights Watch as a “global transgender...