So I got my Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) on the 12th of January – so what next… rape, pillage, and burn?
Obviously not – I am a rad fem and fully support women’s rights.
Sometimes being openly trans can be exceedingly unpleasant though, and just now is one of those times. There is so much “trans” being discussed in the media, in reality I just want to cry.
The easy option would be to “live in stealth”; frankly, no one would know I was trans, and life would be reasonably effortless. But what about the trans kids who need role models and more to-the-point support from the hate, bigotry and downright lies told about trans folk?
Now to be clear, I am not saying all gender-critical people are hateful or, indeed, don’t have genuine concerns about what they call “gender-ideology” a phrase a trans person finds repulsive. But I am concerned they don’t appreciate what benefits I will get from my GRC.
The most important reason for me was to pass away with dignity, and with my family having a history of strokes, it’s an issue I considered. Just “popping off”, as my 96 year-old-mum would put it, is something none of us can deny – and my family has strict orders that my coffin will be the cheapest available and draped in my beloved trans flag.
But there were a couple of other reasons I went for my GRC. My GP surgery uses a “Self-Check-In” system which would not recognise me as a female – pretty embarrassing with everyone seeing a woman. And then there was “that incident” at a covid vaccination centre where the receptionist said aloud for all and sundry to hear “Well, it says here you are, male”. I faced her down and replied, “I am a post-op trans woman; do you have a problem with that”? Sheepishly she replied, “no, not at all”.
But the damage was done.
With my GRC, my GP surgery will now agree to change my sex marker on my NHS paperwork.
I make no bones about it. The process for obtaining a GRC is horrendous and what drove me through it was “fear” – not just passing away in the wrong gender or the medical admin issues, but also what this transphobic government will do next to take away trans rights.
Self-Id is all about getting a GRC, and the main reasons we trans people need one is to marry and die. It has nothing to do about single-sex-spaces at all.
Sport, Prisons, Hospitals, Rape Centres?
Trans people have always had access to these spaces, and since 2010 it’s been legal for service providers to say “no”.
For sure, trans women participating in sports is a highly controversial issue. Still, in the UK, no trans woman has ever competed at the elite level and at the grassroots level, never been associated with any injury. A GRC has nothing to do with participating in sports, though.
Prisons have their own system, which I support and to confirm for the upteenth time a trans woman with a GRC can be held in the male estate.
Hospitals? Again a GRC has nothing to do with what hospital wards trans people are admitted too; we have always self-identified our gender. And my year-long investigation involving 102 Freedom of Information categorically proved there are no issues.
Rape Centres? Again a GRC gives no access; service providers can say “no” quite legitimately. Regarding domestic abuse, refuges trans people already have our own services.
Where is all this going?
God only knows.
