Lynne Featherstone: ...document published and launched at 10 Downing street by the Prime Minister states that for the first time the Government will have a gender action plan. No Government have ever had such a plan on transgender issues.
Lynne Featherstone: I found new clause 3 very interesting, and I agree with the hon. Member for Bolton West. Transgender people are on a journey, and they can be anywhere on that journey at any point. I hope she agrees with me that it was a great shame that in the Equality Act 2010 the previous Government did not accept my suggestion that the term “gender reassignment”, which is rather far along that...
Lynne Featherstone: At the moment, we are aware that only one person has been issued with a card under the transgender category. I understand the point that the hon. Lady is making.
Lynne Featherstone: As I go on, I hope the hon. Lady will see where I am going. I understand that the previous Government had introduced a policy that would have allowed a transgender person who was in the process of changing gender to hold and use two ID cards—that is the point that the hon. Lady raised, but not the one included in the new clause. She deserves credit for the enlightened approach adopted on...
Lynne Featherstone: ...have the information at the moment, but I will come back to that. The matter is not under consideration as part of the Bill, but I would like to consider the scope for two passports to be issued to transgender people. I am sure that Members on both sides recognise that travelling in the European Union and in other parts of the world may present different situations and circumstances for...
Lynne Featherstone: None of the transgender communities to whom I have spoken have mentioned anything about ID cards.
Lynne Featherstone: ...consideration of whether civil partnerships should be allowed to include religious readings, music and symbols. This commitment was made through the document, Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality, published on 16 June 2010. There are currently no plans to allow religious readings, music and symbols during the registration of civil marriages.
Lynne Featherstone: The Government published "Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality" on 16 June 2010. This document sets out a programme of work to tackle discrimination and ensure equal opportunities for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people. It confirms our support for civil partnerships and sets out our commitment to "talk to those with a key interest in this issue about what...
Lynne Featherstone: ...civil partnerships taking place on religious premises. This Government are committed to supporting civil partnerships. This week, the Prime Minister launched Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality, an ambitious programme of work to tackle outdated prejudices and ensure equal chances for everyone, whatever their sexual orientation or gender identity. It contains a...
Lynne Featherstone: This Government are committed to supporting transgender equality. On 18 June the Prime Minister launched Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality, which sets out a clear programme of work to combat homophobia and transphobia. In it we give a clear commitment to work with transgender groups to develop a Government Action Plan on Transgender Equality, which we will publish...
Lynne Featherstone: ...civil partnerships taking place on religious premises. This Government are committed to supporting civil partnerships. This week, the Prime Minister launched Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality, an ambitious programme of work to tackle outdated prejudices and ensure equal chances for everyone, whatever their sexual orientation or gender identity. It contains a...
Lynne Featherstone: ...for tabling the amendment, which goes part way to where I was trying to reach, but not the whole way. It is important to introduce the idea of uncertainty and confusion, which populates the transgender world to a far greater extent than the world in which people are settled in their decision to live in one gender or the other. I felt that we had not touched on that complexity or allowed...
Lynne Featherstone: Amendment 115 is intended to widen the definition of who is protected in transgender discrimination. On these Benches, we have a high degree of concern about the narrowness of the protection in the definition of gender reassignment. The issue is not just about reassignment, which is the medical end to a process. We would also have concerns if, additionally, it were about the process that...
Lynne Featherstone: ...create an anxiety for me that there will be a differential between some of the strands. Can I move on quickly to Professor Stephen Whittle? Do you think that the Bill goes far enough to protect the transgender community from discrimination, and particularly those who choose to express their gender differently, but do not want to go as far as gender reassignment?
Lynne Featherstone: Are you saying that there is a whole spectrum in terms of transgender identity and that people should be protected against discrimination wherever they are on that spectrum?
Lynne Featherstone: ...what we hope is a move away from treating transsexualism as a medical condition. It is currently labelled gender reassignment under the protected characteristics. For a long time, those in the transgender community have had physically to change gender before qualifying for the same protection as other strands. To date, the transgender spectrum has not really been understood. While we...
Lynne Featherstone: ...; (2) what estimate the Office for National Statistics has made of the number of UK residents who consider themselves to be (a) gay male, (b) bisexual male, (c) bisexual female and (d) transgender; and what methodology the Office uses to make such estimates.
