Boris Johnson scraps plan to make gender change easier

Plans to allow people to change their legal gender and ‘self-identify’ as a different sex have been scrapped in Britain.

Boris Johnson visits the UK Biocentre in Milton Keynes, north of London, last week. Picture: AFP

Plans to allow people to change their legal gender and “self-identify” as a different sex have been scrapped in a move that will fuel the culture war gripping Britain.

Ministers have scrapped plans developed under Theresa May’s government to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates without a medical diagnosis.

Instead they plan to announce a ban on “gay-cure” therapies in an attempt to placate LGBT people. New protections will be offered to safeguard female-only spaces, including refuges and public lavatories, to stop them being used by those with male anatomy.

A paper on the government’s plans is “basically ready” and is pencilled in for publication at the end of July before MPs go on their summer break.

Equalities Minister Liz Truss will publish the details in an official response to a public consultation on the Gender Rec­og­nition Act. That has been in the long grass since October 2018 amid controversy about the measures.

Under the leaked plans, proposals for people to self-identify their gender will be abandoned and those wanting to change their birth certificate will still need medical approval. At present, that means two doctors have to sign off a gender change.

And there will be a crackdown on “quack” doctors to ensure that only reputable medics can give approvals

New national guidelines on lavatory provision are likely to be introduced, replacing the “free-for-all” in which councils set their own rules, which has seen a rise in gender-neutral lavatories

A ban on “gay-cure” therapies that are run by some church groups and therapists will be announced on the same day.

Ms Truss has joined forces with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s team to ensure the document is more in line with public opinion. Polls suggest voters are sympathetic to trans rights but do not support transgender women with male anatomy accessing female-only facilities such as prisons and changing rooms. Sources say Mr Johnson’s aides came close to announcing the change during the December election campaign and again before the coronavirus struck.

More than 100,000 responses were received to the consultation. Insiders say about 70 per cent of those backed the idea that anyone should be able to declare that they are a woman or a man. However, officials believe the results were skewed by an avalanche of responses generated by trans rights groups.

The move will be a challenge for Labour leader Keir Starmer, whose party is deeply divided on the issue. In the leadership contest, Sir Keir was the only candidate not to sign a pledge that branded feminists “transphobic” and said the party should “fight against” them. He signed a less contentious list of pledges that included a commitment to “introduce a self-declaration process”.

Under current rules, those wanting to change their gender pay £140 and apply to a panel for a gender recognition certificate. They have to produce two medical reports that they have suffered from gender dysphoria — usually from their GP and one other registered medical practitioner or psychologist.

Applicants are also required to show they have lived in their chosen gender identity for two years and intend to do so for the rest of their lives. The procedure is condemned by trans rights campaigners as dehumanising, bureaucratic and expensive. But the new proposals are likely to be supported by feminist groups, who argue that trans rights infringe women’s rights.

Ms Truss has already strengthened advice on medical procedures for under-18s which have irreversible effects on their fertility. “She’s made it more difficult for people to get that treatment easily,” a source said. “It has to go through much greater sign-off.”

No 10 declined to comment but a government source did not dispute the leak: “The report is not yet finalised and the Prime Minister will have the final say on the recommendations.”