Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce a self-declared gender recognition process to de-medicalise gender dysphoria as a mental health condition.

The Government Equalities Office is currently preparing the consultation on reform of the Gender Recognition Act, which will be published in due course. The responses to this consultation will be taken into account before deciding how to best reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

Under the current Gender Recognition Act, trans people can change their legal gender by submitting a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, alongside other documentation including a second report from a medical professional, proof of having lived for at least two years in their acquired gender, and a statutory declaration that they intend to live in the acquired gender until death.

We are currently considering options for how we might we reform the current system, including examining how we could de-medicalise the legal process for changing gender.

The Gender Recognition Act does not, and will not, regulate the status of gender dysphoria as a mental health condition, as listed in medical handbooks. However, we are very clear that we do not consider being transgender to be a mental illness.