Petition with almost 140,000 signatures forces parliamentary debate on self-identification
A petition demanding reform to the Gender Recognition Act has triggered a debate on self-identification in the House of Commons.
It is scheduled for 21 February after 137,271 people called on the UK government to make it easier for transgender and non-binary people to self-identify. “Reform the GRA to allow transgender people to self-identify without the need for a medical diagnosis, to streamline the administrative process, and to allow non-binary identities to be legally recognised,” part of it stated.
The petition, which ran for six months and closed on 24 January, achieved well above the 100,000 names required to have a topic considered for debate in Parliament.
In 2020, the government put plans to reform the Act to simplify the self-identification process on the backburner – something that was met with fierce criticism from LGBTQ+ activists.
