Clause 9 - General
Gender Recognition Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
Dr Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak, Labour)
The hon. Member for Daventry moved his amendment in a sensitive way. He attempted to probe an important issue, which, I am sure, would have been raised by other Members if he had not raised it.
Earlier, the hon. Member for South-West Bedfordshire stated that, in his view, biological sex cannot be changed. Unfortunately, when he said that, I was unable to be in Committee. He made some remarks about the aetiology of transsexualism. Our knowledge of the causes of transsexulism is not complete, but it is likely that it is multifactorial. The important point is that members of the transcommunity feel that they should be recognised in their gender identity, irrespective of the cause of that phenomenon.
It is important to note that, based on existing knowledge, the experts in the field of transsexualism take the view that it should be regarded as an intersex condition. While it may be true that the sexual identity of the majority of people is clear and can be based on their chromosomes and gonadal identity, that it is not the case for a significant number of people—different groups of people, indeed, of which transsexuals may be one.