Mr. Andy Mannion:

I am a young transgender man and peer educator with BeLonG To youth services, which is the national youth organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people. Founded in 2003, we are funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Department of Education and Skills and the HSE’s national office for suicide prevention. As well as direct youth services, we are also engaged in national policy, training and awareness-raising, especially related to tackling homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools.

We very much appreciate this opportunity to speak to the committee. Our comments today are based on our work over the past ten years with the growing numbers of transgender young people. In 2012, BeLonG To’s national network of LGBT youth services provided individual and group support to 47 transgender young people throughout Ireland, including 28 in Dublin. So far in 2013, we have provided support to 42 transgender young people in Dublin alone.

BeLonG To strongly welcomes the Government’s introduction of legislation to legally recognise the preferred gender of transgender people. Although we agree with TENI’s broader recommendations, BeLonG To’s comments are focused on one topic, namely, the age criteria for gender recognition. BeLonG To is very concerned the blanket exclusion of those under 18 from the gender recognition Bill contravenes the spirit of Irish commitments to the rights of children. It will also expose transgender young people to an increased risk of mental health difficulties and bullying and reduced educational attainment and school completion. Transgender young people have told BeLonG To it would be too painful to wait until they are 18 to apply for gender recognition. Significantly, they fear it would set in stone the very unwelcome climate they face in schools. For example, transgender youth are told to hide their identities, are not allowed to use their preferred pronouns or names, and are not allowed to wear the uniforms or use the toilets or changing rooms which reflect their preferred gender.

Further to the recommendations in our submission to the committee, BeLonG To strongly welcomes the advice of the Ombudsman for Children on the gender recognition Bill. The Office of the Ombudsman for Children completed a thorough review of international and domestic law and concluded the exclusion of those under 18 would not be in keeping with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights or the Irish Constitution. In paragraph 1.6 of its advice, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children states the gender recognition Bill as drafted is unlikely to safeguard children. We also concur with its advice the age criterion be removed from the Bill; parents or guardians be enabled to apply for gender recognition certificates on behalf of their children; and young people over the age of 16 be enabled to apply for gender recognition certificates on their own behalf.