Labour Mayors from Across UK Write Open Letter Urging Reforms to Gender Recognition Act
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has written an open letter co-signed by the Labour mayors of Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield urging much-needed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA).
“The GRA was a groundbreaking piece of legislation when first introduced which has provided some trans people with the fundamental right for their gender identity to be recognised in the eyes of the law,” Khan writes in the letterto Minister for Women and Equality Penny Mordaunt.
“However, the act is now outdated and in urgent need of reform to ensure that it is accessible and delivers on the promises we made to our trans communities in 2004.
“GRA reform is a key step in addressing the marginalisation of trans and non-binary communities, by allowing them to more easily gain legal recognition of their gender identity.”
Khan points to the fact that just 12 percent of trans people have a gender recognition certificate, despite the 2018 National LGBT Survey finding more than 92 percent wanted one.
“We are currently lagging behind the progress made by countries around the world in terms of legal equality for trans and non-binary people,”Khan continues.
“It is time listen to the voices of our trans and non-binary communities, and proceed with reforming this legislation to ensure that it benefits the communities it was intended to support.”
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews
