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Blog — Press Statements

Mermaids Press

THE GOVERNMENT CONDONES TRANS CONVERSION ABUSE

Mermaids condemns the government’s decision to back-track on its promises to the LGBT+ communities to ban all forms of conversion abuse. By actively excluding trans and non-binary people from the ban, the government has decided to condone conversion abuse for our community. The government’s own data illustrates that trans people are at an unparalleled risk of being victim to this abhorrent practice. This decision allows conversion abusers to keep harming trans people without punishment. Such a decision secures decades of future abuse, pain and suffering. It is a dark moment in the history of LGBT+ rights in this country.  Notes…

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Mermaids Press

The Cass Review Interim Report: Mermaids’ Statement

The Cass Review’s Interim Report, published 10 March 2022, clearly recognises that NHS England’s current healthcare model is not fit for purpose and that trans children and young people deserve, but are not currently receiving, the same standard of care as everybody else.  Any healthcare pathway has to be informed by those it is there to help, here being trans, non-binary, gender diverse and/or gender exploring children and young people. We read the report from this perspective and in doing so we see these interim recommendations as a positive step toward much-needed change. The interim report from @TheCassReview has been…

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Mermaids Press

Mermaids welcomes Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill

The reforms are a significant step forward for trans rights as fundamentally, they acknowledge that trans people are who they say they are. The current system is unnecessarily bureaucratic, stigmatising and invasive, and consultations in both Scotland and the UK have shown overwhelming public support for change.

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Mermaids Press

Gender Recognition Act reform: What happens now?

MPs show overwhelming support for GRA reform at Westminster. Kai O’Doherty (they/them), Head of Policy and Research at Mermaids, asks when will the Government act? On Monday 21 February 2022, Westminster held a debate on reform to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA), triggered by a petition signed by over 130,000 trans rights supporters. In addition to impassioned, supportive cross-party speeches from MPs, the Minister for Equalities, Mike Freer MP, committed the Government to some further specific reforms on language and spousal veto – but with the wider population’s overwhelming support for reform, both in and outside of the House,…

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Mermaids Press

A shameful act of trans exclusion: Mermaids’ response to the EHRC

In a shameful act of trans exclusion, the Equality and Human Rights Commission yesterday (Wednesday 26 January) failed our community, calling for gender identity to be removed from the proposed ban on conversion therapy legislation in the first instance to allow for further “scrutiny”. The Commission also wrote to the Scottish Government to further delay its work to update the Gender Recognition Act. The ban on conversion therapy and gender recognition has endured several years of “scrutiny” and will be subject to more throughout the respective legislative processes. These years of public discourse have resulted in trans people and communities…

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Mermaids Press

X Passport case dismissed by the UK’s Supreme Court

Today (15 December 2021) the UK’s Supreme Court has dismissed Christie Elan-Cane’s application to have a gender neutral option on passports.  The Court said that there is no consistent approach from the European Court of Human Rights on whether there is an obligation on European Convention on Human Rights member states, which the UK is one of, to provide a gender neutral passport. The member states have a wide margin to decide whether this is something they want to do.  The UK government has said they do not want to open up recognition of gender beyond male or female categories…

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Mermaids Press

IOC guidelines: Mermaids statement on the new framework for trans athletes

Mermaids broadly welcomes the new framework on inclusion for transgender athletes from the International Olympic Committee, published on Tuesday 16 November 2021. This framework stresses that no athlete should be excluded from competition on the assumption of an advantage due to their gender. The new guidance follows a two-year consultation process with more than 250 athletes and concerned stakeholders. The new framework focuses on 10 principles: inclusion, prevention of harm, non-discrimination, fairness, no presumption of advantage, evidence-based approach, primacy of health and bodily autonomy, stakeholder-centred approach, right to privacy and periodic reviews. This framework stresses that no athlete should be excluded from competition on…

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Mermaids Press

Mermaids reaction to the Sports Council Equality Group Review into Transgender Inclusion in Domestic Sport in the UK

Today (Thursday 30 September 2021) the Sports Council Equality Group have published their “Review into Transgender Inclusion in Domestic Sport in the UK.” We are disappointed to read this review, which rather than focussing on bettering its existing guidance for trans people in sport, yet again ignores the lived experiences of trans people, and misinterprets the Equality Act and academic literature. This report will have ramifications for trans people in the sporting community, and only seeks to cause unnecessary hostility, exclusion and confusion for those wishing to participate in sport. It is important to remember that the SCEG report only…

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Mermaids Press

Mermaids statement on the Bell v Tavistock appeal

The Court of Appeal has today told the High Court that it got Bell v Tavistock wrong. Its judgment today overturns a judgment that the High Court made in December 2020. This is wonderful news following almost 10 months of huge difficulty. Mermaids and most importantly the trans young people and their families that we represent are relieved that the Court of Appeal has today (Friday 17 September 2021) overturned the High Court’s decision from December 2020 that effectively barred trans young people from accessing life-saving medical treatment on the NHS unless they had a court order.  The decision today…

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Press Statement on the Bell v Tavistock Appeal

22.06.2021 Trans young people should have the same rights to bodily autonomy as any other young people  We have seen the distress and further delay to accessing treatment that the High Court’s decision in Bell v Tavistock has created for our service users. The decision has put a further strain on the already marginalised transgender and non-binary community and their families in this country. We believe strongly that trans and non-binary children should have the same rights over their healthcare decisions as anyone else, in line with their evolving understanding. This is in line with the UN Convention on the…

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