10/06/2009
Gender Recognition
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows for the legal recognition of transsexual people's true gender identity.


The Gender Recognition Act 2004 was passed by the Westminster Parliament and applies across the UK. The Act came into effect on April 4th 2005.
The Act allows for the legal recognition of transsexual people's true gender (the Act calls this the 'acquired gender'). This recognition is called gender recognition, and to obtain it, it is necessary to apply to the Gender Recognition Panel. The general rule is that the Panel will grant gender recognition if it is satisfied that the applicant:

  • has, or has had in the past, gender dysphoria
  • has lived in the acquired gender for at least two years when the application is made
  • intends to continue to live in the acquired gender for the rest of their life.

It is not a requirement for gender recognition that the applicant has had gender reassignment surgery. It is however necessary to supply the Panel with reports from two doctors, or from a doctor and a psychologist. One of these two people must practise in the field of gender dysphoria and their report must include details of the applicant's diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The Gender Recognition Panel website gives full details of how to apply for gender recognition.

When the Panel grants a person gender recognition, it will issue the person with a full gender recognition certificate. Their legal sex/gender is now the acquired gender. For people whose birth was registered in Scotland, the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) will automatically send the person a draft replacement birth certificate in their acquired gender and chosen name, for checking. More details of this are available on the GROS website here.

What if I'm married or in a civil partnership?

There is a complication if the person applying for gender recognition is married or in a civil partnership. Because the UK Government refuse to allow same-sex marriages to be created by gender recognition, if a married person applies for gender recognition, the Gender Recognition Panel can only issue them with an interim gender recognition certificate. Interim recognition does not change a person's legal gender. The person can only obtain full gender recognition, with legal effect, by ending their marriage. In Scotland this can be done by applying to the Sheriff Court for a divorce on grounds of interim gender recognition, submitting to the court the interim gender recognition certificate. When the Sheriff Court grants the divorce, at the same time it issues a full gender recognition certificate, and the person's legal gender changes.

The same rule applies if the person applying for gender recognition is in a civil partnership. It is necessary to apply to court dissolve the civil partnership before full gender recognition is granted, because otherwise gender recognition would create a mixed-sex civil partnership, which the UK Government refuse to allow.

In the Equality Network's view, it is wrong to force a trans person and their partner to choose between gender recognition (which is a human right) and continuing their marriage/civil partnership. We are campaigning to change the law so that a person can get gender recognition while continuing with their existing marriage or civil partnership - see our policy page on same-sex marriage.

In the meantime, if one partner in a marriage or civil partnership wishes to obtain gender recognition, the only way the partners can continue a legally recognised partnership is to convert their marriage into a civil partnership, or vice versa, as follows:
  • the trans partner applies for gender recognition, and the interim gender recognition certificate is issued by the Gender Recognition Panel
  • the partners apply to the Sheriff Court for a divorce, or dissolution of their civil partnership, on grounds of interim gender recognition
  • the Court grants the divorce/dissolution and issues the full gender recognition certificate
  • the couple register a civil partnership to replace their marriage (or vice versa)

The General Registrar Office for Scotland (GROS) has put in place procedures which should allow the last two steps to be done on the same day, meaning that the period during which the couple's partnership has no legal status is only a few hours long. This needs to be arranged in advance. For more details contact the gender recognition team at GROS, at gru_support@gro-scotland.gov.uk . It is also a good idea to obtain legal advice about the effects on property rights, pensions, etc, of converting between a marriage and a civil partnership in this way.

Finally, if two trans people are married to each other, or in a civil partnership, and they both want to get gender recognition, it is still necessary for them to end their marriage or civil partnership to get full recognition, but as soon as they do that, they are entitled to remarry or start a new civil partnership. Again it should be possible to do this all on one day, as described above.

More information

The Gender Recognition Panel website gives details of the application process.

The website of the General Register Office for Scotland gives details of the issue of new birth certificates to trans people born in Scotland.

The Press for Change website gives further useful information on gender recognition.