Clause 3 - Evidence
Gender Recognition Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Mr David Lammy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Tottenham, Labour)
I can. I understand why the hon. Gentleman makes that point, but for my purposes it is, unfortunately, a semantic exercise. Many years ago, when people talked about transsexuals and gender re-alignment surgery, the colloquialism for it was ''sex change''. We could debate the language of gender and sex for some time, but I am not sure that that would get us where we need to be.
My position is this: I believe that there are people—born both in this country and in other parts of the world—who are driven to believe that they are in the wrong body and want to acquire the right one and a new gender. Given that fact, and given that the Bill is about recognising that and giving those people rights, I think that once someone has acquired a new gender, in law that person, although previously a man, is now a woman—or, although previously a woman, is now a man. There are obviously discussions and conversations going on in Europe in terms of discrimination and other things in that connection. In law, that person must have the rights that go with that change of status, which means that in terms of same-sex relationships, this is a very difficult area.