Abstract

In this paper we report on a qualitative study about the Gender Recognition Act. “A step in the right direction” it seems is the prevailing. What participants mean by this is that the GRA is an important piece of legislation, and the recognition of transpeople provides a certain amount of legal security, in relation to birth certificates, from which they get a sense that there requests for recognition in their “acquired gender” is being taken seriously. Unlike historically, where they felt that their lives were seen as perverse or at best something to ridicule. This “being taken seriously” was said to also function sometimes in a positive way in relation to employers and human resources, and public bodies, such as passport offices, universities and police forces.