Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill which will be good for many people who have suffered due to the State and society failing, or refusing, to respect their gender. That said, it has a number of deficiencies which I will outline and which Sinn Féin colleagues have also addressed but which bear repeating, to some degree.

My colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, published a Bill on gender recognition during this Dáil term. It was a much more progressive Bill than the one before us and without many of the problematic sections. This Bill has moved from being a great and utterly reasonable step in the right direction.

This Bill gives with the left hand and takes with the right. It sets out to respect the gender of individuals and their unique position in identifying their gender but then with other Parts, it leans back into the old and damaging ways of pathologising people who have been misassigned a gender with which they do not identify.

It also nannies people by setting boundaries for them as to how they can get their correct gender recognised. No psychiatrist or endocrinologist can tell one what gender one is - that is something each individual knows - and while labels and disrespectful policies may hurt people who have been misassigned, it will never change that. This is the position of TENI and it is my position also. It should be the case that the process of having one's correct gender recognised is as simple as applying for it.

Life, when one has been born into a situation where one's gender has been misassigned, is not easy. Some find it more difficult than others and generally that is to do with the respect they get for their correct gender identification as they grow up.

There are trans people who did not meet great resistance from parents and so were able to transition earlier than others and so faced fewer difficulties but even so, they had to deal with an issue which many of us never will. For many of us, our gender as perceived by other people is the one that we identify with and that is a big privilege when one considers the resistance, the hatred and the disrespect trans people often face. To have the State recognise that trans people know their individual gender better than anyone and to respect that will be a small step to showing society that being trans is okay. Trans people deserve respect and behaviour to the contrary is not acceptable in our society.

Ireland has a serious problem with transphobia. We have a very small trans community so for many people, it might not be so apparent but that does change the fact that trans people in Ireland are regularly victims of transphobic abuse. That can be online comments, street abuse or harassment or even physical and sexual assault. Everyone deserves to live free from abuse and danger such as that and to do so confident that society would stand in solidarity with him or her should he or she be victimised.

This Bill denies the right to identify one's gender to 16 and 17 year old people, putting in place barriers which mean they would have to go through a parent. This is utterly unfair and would leave many in this age group unable to have their gender recognised for a further two years, which is not right. The Bill denies that right completely to anyone under 16 years.

The Government must think that gender is something people take lightly but it certainly is not. It is important, in particular, to the people who are denied their correct gender identification. One's gender misidentification is a big issue to decide on but it is one which is individual. If a person under 16 years was to decide that they have been misidentified as female when they are male, what harm is it to anyone for them to transition and have the State recognise that so they can live in peace and privacy? If Deputies could try to imagine what it would be like to have their gender denied to them for most of their youth, I think they will understand that this is the wrong way to approach things.

One's body and one's gender are not mutually exclusive. For some, there is a very great link but for others there is not and that should be recognised. Under no circumstances should it require that trans people need to undergo any medical treatment to prove to anyone their gender. This State has a very bad record of thinking it can tell people what they are or how they feel. That should never be forgotten.

Finally, I thank TENI and the trans and intersex community of Ireland for their work in having their rights recognised. This is not the end but it is certainly a positive step and full credit for it lies with that community.

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