More than one thousand people in the UK obtained a document claiming they are the opposite sex last year, the highest number in nearly twenty years.
According to Ministry of Justice figures seen by PA Media, 1,169 people obtained Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) in March 2024-25, more than triple the number in 2019-20. The figures peaked at 1,181 during the first full year of the scheme in 2005-6.
In order to obtain a GRC and an altered birth certificate, an adult must have lived as if they are a member of the opposite sex for two years, have a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and be approved by a panel.
Under-25s
Overall, 9,633 GRCs have been issued since the Gender Recognition Act came into force. The application fee was reduced from £140 to £5 in 2021, and online submissions were introduced the following year.
Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of GRCs were issued to under-25s last year, while 68 per cent were for those who have been born since 1990.
Nearly one in ten certificates were granted to married applicants. If the applicant wishes to remain married, their spouse must consent to the application.
‘Irreversible’
According to The Daily Telegraph, 18-year-olds have been among over two thousand men referred for “feminising genital surgery” between 2021-23.
Freedom of information requests to Nuffield Health revealed that over a third of its patients who underwent the sex-swap surgery were under 30. Overall, the NHS Gender Dysphoria National Referral Support Services referred 2,071 men for the procedure.
The founder of Transgender Trend, Stephanie Davies-Arai, said: “This is the same cohort of young people who have been indoctrinated as children into believing that they have a gender identity and that they are trans who are now being referred into adult clinics and for these surgeries.”
“This is not what medicine is for, it is not what a health service is for. This is irreversible and it will leave these young people with medical problems for the rest of their lives which the NHS will have to deal with.”
Supreme Court
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that the terms ‘woman’, ‘man’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) refer to biological sex.
In a unanimous decision, the UK’s highest court ruled in favour of For Women Scotland’s appeal against Scottish Government guidance that allows men with a GRC to take women-only positions on company boards.
Explaining their judgment, Lord Hodge, Lady Rose and Lady Simler – supported by Lord Reed and Lord Lloyd-Jones – identified provisions “that require a biological interpretation of ‘sex’ in order to function coherently”, including single-sex spaces and services, communal accommodation and single-sex higher education institutions.
In conclusion, the Justices stated that the “Guidance issued by the Scottish Government is incorrect. A person with a GRC in the female gender does not come within the definition of ‘woman’ for the purposes of sex discrimination in section 11 of the EA 2010”.
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