No: 30 The Gender Recognition Act 2015 | Pocketmags.com

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No: 30 The Gender Recognition Act 2015

It was sunny, when we left Leinster House, all smiles. It had finally happened. On July 15, 2015, the Gender Recognition Act was passed and Ireland became the fourth country in the world to pass a legal gender recognition law based on self-declaration.

Celebrating Gender Recognition outside the Dáil, left to Right: Sam Blanckensee, Gordon Grehan, Vicki Mullen, Vanessa Lacey, Claire Farrell, Dan O’Connor, Broden Giambrone, Dr Lydia Foy, Michael Farrell

As we walked through the gates and stepped onto Kildare Street, I popped open a bottle of Moët & Chandon that we had been saving for this occasion and we toasted our victory. We raised our glasses to Dr Lydia Foy who started this journey back in 1993 when she first asked to change the gender marker on her birth certificate to reflect her true identity. Despite bullying, setbacks and stalling by the State, Lydia persisted in her struggle to be recognised. We raised our glasses to Michael Farrell from FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres), Lydia’s solicitor, an established civil rights activist who recognised that trans rights were human rights long before society caught up. And finally, we raised our glasses to trans activists and allies who worked so hard to make this legislation happen.

There is the danger of looking back at a historical moment and thinking that it was destined to occur or that it just happened. That is rarely the case. Lydia started the battle for gender recognition in 1993 and TENI joined the fight in 2010. For five years, members of TENI lobbied and advocated, meeting TDs and Senators, hosting Dáil briefings, taking part in Joint Oireachtas meetings, working with civil servants and raising awareness anywhere and whenever we could.

We were not professional lobbyists, most of us had no experience with this type of advocacy. Instead, we were trans activists, allies and family members, who were committed to ensuring that trans people could have our gender recognised on our birth certificates, but also had a fundamental understanding that this struggle was about the State finally acknowledging that trans people existed.

July 15 will always be a special day for me, as it was the culmination of so much work. I was deeply proud of what we accomplished as a community. But I also remember thinking that it was just the first step. It was not the end of the campaign but the beginning. Not only did the law urgently need to be improved to ensure young trans, non-binary and intersex individuals could be legally recognised but the struggle for trans rights still had a long way to go.

As trans people, we urgently need access to trans-competent health services, we need to be supported in schools, we need viable employment, we need secure housing and we need to be safe on the streets. We celebrate our victories but keep the fight going.

This article appears in 340

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