the Government, in unequivocal terms, has already announced its intention to introduce comprehensive primary legislation on this difficult and sensitive subject.”
67. The House of Lords held further that it was not possible to “read down” the 1973 Act and made a declaration of incompatibility under section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
68. The GRA 2004 came into force on 4 April 2005 and provides a framework for recognising a person’s reassigned gender. The compatibility of the UK’s provision for recognition of gender reassignment with article 8 of the Convention was considered by the ECtHR again in Grant v United Kingdom (Application No 32570/03) (2006) 44 EHRR 1. There a trans woman complained that she was only entitled to receive her state pension at age 65, the age for men, rather than at 60, the age for women. She had been issued with a GRC once the GRA 2004 came into force. The Court held that the duration of the applicant’s victim status lasted from the occasion on which she was refused a pension following the Court’s judgment in Goodwin until the passing of the GRA 2004: para 43.
69. The main provisions of the GRA 2004:
- (a) provided for applications to be made for a GRC and for the criteria to be applied and the evidence to be provided: sections 1, 2 and 3;
- (b) established a Gender Recognition Panel (“the Panel”) to determine those applications and provided for appeals from decisions of the Panel: section 1(3) and Schedule 1;
- (c) provided for the consequences of the issue of a gender recognition certificate, including the creation and maintenance of the Gender Recognition Register described in Schedule 3;
- (d) provided for a prohibition on disclosure of protected information about a person who has made an application: section 22;
- (e) provided for limited amendments to the SDA 1975.
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