Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, speaking on the Gender Recognition Bill in the Dáil, welcomed that the Bill provides a legal framework for trans people to have their gender reflected accurately, but he still has serious concerns over certain unacceptable and unnecessarily cruel provisions in the Bill.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“In May of last year I spoke on the broad precursor of this purposed Gender Recognition Bill.

“Many of us agreed that there was a urgent need for a legal framework for trans people to have their gender reflected accurately and at that time I raised a number of concerns, which Sinn Féin share with transgender individuals and their representative advocacy group.

“I do recognise that there has been some small changes to this legislation, but unfortunately the Minister for Social Protection has failed to take on board many important concerns.

“Sinn Féin produced a Bill in 2013 that would have given trans people a pathway to legal recognition, without having to jump through unnecessary hoops and wasting psychiatrists and endocrinologists time by having to get official say from a medical expert about what a person’s gender is when they could have just as easily articulated precisely that themselves.

“Our legislation would not have been downright cruel and forced happily married loving couples to divorce so that one person might have their gender accurately recognised.

“It is a bizarre and cruel approach to effectively force divorce on people who may not want it. It violates people’s basic rights to equality, and that’s before you even get to the details of this and take into account that people will have to separate from their families for at least five years before divorcing.

“Our legislation was rights based, and we are pleading even at this stage with the government to recognise the gaping and unnecessary flaws in their Bill.

“I have met with a wide range of groups and individuals on this issue, and it saddens me that their legitimate views have not been listened to or reflected in this Bill.

Crowe continued:

“It is not for the Minister or I, or any other person to be the arbiter of a person’s gender identity. Surely it should be up to the person themselves and this should be fully respected and legally recognised by the State.

“I am calling on the Minister to listen to the legitimate concerns being put forward by those who will be impacted by this legislation and remove the physicians requirement and the single or forced divorce requirement; to provide a legal pathway for recognition for young adults and introduce a mechanism to cater for non-binary individuals that has been omitted from this legislation.”

ENDS