Grey Collier on the EHRC's proposed changes to the Equality Act

Grey Collier, former legal director of the EHRC wrote this statement on twitter wrote:

Apr 6 As a former Legal Director @EHRC I have thoughts.. 1/ Quote Tweet EHRC @EHRC @GreyCollier

The proposed change in the law is nonsense on stilts. The suggestion is legally illiterate, unworkable and is just another way of using trans people’s actual lives as a pawn in the culture wars 2/

It would overturn some of the purposes of the Gender Recognition Act and make it possible to discriminate against trans people in a whole range of circumstances where it is currently outlawed 3/

It’s pure transphobia- based on misleading unevidenced transphobic assumptions. e.g the notion that a trans man is an appropriate employee where there is an occupational requirement for a woman to do a job is offensive both to the trans man and to the service users 4/

#LGBwiththeT. The idea that LGB associations would particularly benefit from this proposed change is vile. Only one small LGB org wishes to do this & it is entirely unrepresentative of the vast majority of LGBT orgs and people who are united in support of trans rights. 5/

Appeasement of a hate group. The proposals do not address problems that arise in real life – only in the minds of some fanatics who have decided to dedicate their lives to destroying the lives of a tiny proportion of the population. 6/

The law currently defines the limited circumstances in which discrimination against a trans person is permitted, in appropriately narrow terms. There is no evidence at all that the law is not working. 7/

It’s unutterably cruel. No trans person, however long since they transitioned, whatever their anatomy, would be assured of being treated as the correct gender. There are trans people in their 80s who have been accessing correctly gendered services for decades. Leave them be. 8/

It’s unworkable. It is impossible to know what is envisaged in real terms, but it is certainly the case that any checks would heavily and intrusively impact cis women, both in law and in practice, particularly those who don’t fit societal norms of femininity. 9/

It’s dangerous, even life-threatening. Due to the hostility whipped up by a few vocal anti-trans activists and most mainstream media outlets many trans people already live in fear of being attacked just going about our daily lives. 10/

We have other serious problems to contend with, like access to healthcare which is catastrophically bad for our communities across the UK. These proposals will make a bad situation immeasurably worse for us, and likely lead directly to violent harassment. 11/

Exclusion from day to day life. Trans people go about life using toilets and changing rooms, and health and welfare services, (and book clubs) and all manner of normal things without causing any trouble to anyone. We’ve been doing so for decades. 12/ transactual.org.uk

This proposal if enacted would devastate our lives, and for no good reason. If you are a trans ally, now is the time to speak up. Both main parties in Westminster think this is a vote winner. It isn’t. Tell them that. This continuous demonisation of trans people has to stop. /13

/end