Gender Recognition: The Irish Debate So Far

At Committee Stage, Senators have an opportunity to offer amendments to the current Bill. They also have the opportunity to raise issues with the Bill in more detail.

It has been an interesting debate so far, as Senators from across the house have almost unanimously raised the same three problems:

1) ‘Forced divorce': The single criteria, which demands that applicants be single if they are to apply for recognition, forces married trans people to choose between their family and their identity.

2) Restrictive medical requirements: This criteria sets out that a person must have their ‘primary treating medical practitioner’ (defined only as a psychiatrist or endocrinologist) confirm their identity in order to be legally recognised – pathologisation by any other name.

3) Exclusion of young people: The age criteria refuses legal recognition to trans and intersex persons under the age of 16, and places an onerous pathway for recognition on 16 and 17 year olds.

Recognition: Trans people must be at the centre of this debate

Another issue raised unanimously during the Second Stage debates, was the need to place trans people at the centre of the debate on gender recognition.

One Labour Senator, Marie Moloney, said, ‘It is crucial [Trans] voices are listened to’, while her Fine Gael colleague, Cáit Keane, stated, ‘Who better than the people themselves to educate us’. Gerard Craughwell, Independent Senator, in an impassioned speech said, ‘None of us can know what trans people go through’. And Fianna Fáil’s, Paschal Mooney, reiterated this point while stressing that, ‘We need to get it right, in the interests of the very people it is directed towards.’

This cross party consensus on the necessity to listen to trans people, and to ensure that they were at the centre of the legislation, was incredibly powerful during the debates. On a number of occasions, the words of trans people were read into the public record. This was particularly powerful as the words of Sam Blanckensee were read by one Senator:

“In the eyes of the State, the man I have become does not exist”

To mark the introduction of the Gender Recognition Bill in the Seanad, TENI launched a video called ‘Gender Recognition Matters’. This aimed to ensure the voices of trans people were heard in this debate. In less than two weeks, the video has been viewed almost 8,000 times.

Watch ‘Gender Recognition Matters’

Gender Recognition Bill 2014: Committee Stage Debate

All of these issues will now be dealt with in far more detail during the Committee Stage debate. Considering the overwhelming consensus to both the problems with the current Bill, and the necessity to listen to trans people, the Goverment will now have an opportunity to amend the Bill so that it more appropriately reflects and protects the people at whom it is aimed.

The debate will begin tomorrow, Tuesday 3rd February, at 4.45pm, and you can watch it online using the link here.