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This fact sheet will give you some basic information about gender recognition.

Please be aware that this is not legal advice and if you are concerned about any of the issues mentioned you should speak to a lawyer.

You can contact Russell Jones & Walker's solicitors at enquiries@rjw.co.uk or call our freephone number 0800 916 9065.

What are my legal rights as a transsexual?

Transsexual people now have full legal recognition in their acquired gender. The Gender Recognition Act enables you to apply for 'gender recognition'. This gives you the right to marry in your acquired gender and get a new birth certificate stating your new sex.

How to I get this legal recognition?

To qualify for full legal recognition in your acquired gender, you must apply to a Gender Recognition Panel, showing you:

• Have or have had gender dysphoria or
• Have had gender reassignment surgery and
• Have lived in your acquired gender for two years before making the application and
• Intend to live permanently in your acquired gender.

If your application is successful, you will receive a gender recognition certificate (GRC) and all the rights and responsibilities of your new gender. These include access to state and occupational pensions and employment rights.

You do not have to, or intend to, undergo surgery to get a gender recognition certificate.

What rights do I have once I have legal recognition?

Once you have gender recognition you must be treated in the same way as others of your new gender. This includes access to facilities meaning it is illegal to prevent you from using facilities meant for your new gender or insist you use your own, separate facilities.

Am I protected from discrimination?

It is illegal for your employer to discriminate against you because of your sex or gender reassignment, or because you are married or in a civil partnership. This applies equally to men and women. For example, it is unlawful to require a male to female transsexual to work to the age of 65 to get their pension, rather than 60 as for other female employees.

You are also protected from discrimination, harassment and victimisation because you are going, or have gone, through the process of gender reassignment or intend to do so.

Victimisation is when you are treated less favourably than someone else because you have complained or been involved in a complaint about discrimination.

Harassment is when you are made to feel humiliated or intimidated by someone else's behaviour.

Am I protected from disability discrimination if I have gender dysphoria?

You are protected under the Disability Discrimination Act if you have been diagnosed as suffering from gender dysphoria or similar disorder which is permanent, or likely to last for more than 12 months. This protects you from being dismissed because of long term absence on medical grounds while undergoing gender reassignment.

Is it ever legal to discriminate?

There are some very limited circumstances where your employer can discriminate if they can show a genuine occupational qualification (GOQ) for the job to be done by a particular gender.

However, once you have a GRC, it is unlawful to discriminate against you in the same way as it is for anyone else of your acquired gender. This means it would only be lawful to discriminate against a female to male transsexual if it would also be lawful to discriminate against a man (eg. restricting a job involving intimate body searching of women to women applicants).

If you are working under a GOQ and then get your GRC, your employer may be allowed to transfer you on the grounds you no longer have the required gender of the GOQ.

How do I make a complaint about discrimination?

In the first place you will need to raise a grievance with your employer. You must then wait 28 days before you can take your case to an employment tribunal. You must send your complaint to the tribunal within three months of the discrimination you are complaining about, or within three months of the end of the grievance procedure.

If the tribunal decides in your favour it can:

• declare that your employer has discriminated against you unlawfully
• order your employer to compensate you for your losses, and/or
• recommend that the employer take steps to reduce the effect of the discrimination on you.