Clause 4

Part of Equality Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:00 pm on 11 June 2009.

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Photo of Vera Baird Vera Baird Solicitor General, Attorney General's Office 2:00, 11 June 2009

There is no suggestion anywhere that a person has to be driven into a medical process. As I have said innumerable times, quite the reverse. Gender reassignment, as defined, is a personal process so there is no question of having to do something medical, let alone something surgical, to fit the definition.

The hon. Member for Daventry was worried that the protection would not apply to young people but it does. In due course I am sure we will have a debate about age discrimination not applying to people under 18, but all the rest of the statute does so. I ask the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green not to press the new clause. I understand why she tabled it, but it was on the false basis that medicality is the key. I hope that I have explained that it is not.