What is Labour proposing on Gender Reform?

Labour has announced an intention to simplify the process by which someone can change their legal sex. It has also committed to maintaining the exemptions in the Equality Act 2010 that make it lawful to operate single-sex services. It may not be possible to do both of these things at once.

In the last few months, there has been a notable shift in Labour policy on the relationship between trans rights and women’s rights, accompanied by quite a lot of tightrope walking. On the one hand, the Party has embraced a newfound acceptance that sex matters in contexts such as changing rooms and rape crisis centres. On the other, it has described the current system of gender recognition as ‘undignified’ “dehumanising” and “futile”. So what is the exact compromise proposed and can it work? Let’s get into a detailed look at the law on all of this.