by Tim Shipman
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 and Boris Johnson’s team in No 10 have ditched 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. Liz Truss, the equalities minister, 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
There will be a crackdown on “quack” doctors to ensure that only reputable medics can give approvals
Safeguards will be put in place to protect “safe spaces” for women, reaffirming provisions in the Equalities Act
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.