The Right to Privacy

Transgender Rights and Privacy in the UK – a student article

Kylie MacFarquharson shares her personal experiences as a transgender woman in the UK. Five years on from her initial Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) consultation, many are unaware of her transgender status, a marked difference from her earlier transitional years. The most challenging part of her journey was post-social transition but before medical consultations. During this window, she faced public ridicule, with men publicly insulting her or even stalking her. Such incidents waned as her transition advanced.

Her wait for a GIC consultation was fifteen months, and the impactful changes from hormone treatments began another eighteen months later. While she feels her waiting period was relatively brief, she highlights that the same clinic’s waiting list has now ballooned to nearly four years. She believes that such protracted waits are cruel and might infringe on the right to privacy of trans individuals.

She believes that such protracted waits are cruel and may infringe on the right to privacy of trans individuals.

Kylie

She draws attention to the UK’s 2004 Gender Recognition Act (GRA), enacted following a human rights case the UK government did not win. This legislation permits individuals to amend the gender on their birth certificates, safeguarding their privacy rights as set out in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Despite the GRA’s bureaucratic limitations, Kylie values the privacy it grants. She notes that numerous legislative proposals threaten the privacy rights of trans individuals. These encompass efforts to overturn the GRA, introduce bathroom bills, and mandate identity card provisions.

She stresses that trans people in the UK have legally accessed gender-specific spaces since 1999, with further protections instated in 2010. Offering a beacon of hope to younger trans individuals, Kylie’s message is simple: “it gets better.” She champions the reformation of the GIC model, suggesting GPs should directly prescribe treatments to adults, sidestepping the present elongated waiting times.

She champions the reformation of the GIC model, suggesting GPs should directly prescribe treatments to adults, sidestepping the present elongated waiting times.

Kylie MacFarquharson

Whilst awareness is commendable, the genuine need is for both privacy and emancipation, given the prevailing inequalities trans people face in multiple areas of British life.

Link to original article: On the right to privacy – Cherwell