HL Deb 19 January 2004 vol 657 cc124-6WA
Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they intend to legalise marriage between persons each possessing the XX chromosome (or each possessing the chromosome) and each possessing the genitalia of the same sex. [HL611]

Lord Filkin

The Government believe that marriage should only be possible between people of opposite gender in law. The Gender Recognition Bill will enable transsexual people who have gained legal recognition in their acquired gender to marry someone of the oppposite legal gender. Whether a transsexual person is able to marry someone of the opposite legal gender will depend on their gender in law and not their chromosomal make up or whether they have completed sex reassignment surgery. Marriages contracted by transsexual people once their change of gender has been legally recognised will be valid marriages between a male and female.

Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they attribute the same meaning to the word "sex" as to the word "gender". [HL612]

Lord Filkin

No. It is, however, a fundamental proposition of the Gender Recognition Bill that, following legal recognition in their acquired gender, a transsexual person will be regarded in UK law as being of the acquired gender for all purposes and that in law that acquired gender will be the same as any legal definition of their sex. This means that, following legal recognition, if the acquired gender is the male gender, the person's sex in law becomes that of a man and if the person's acquired gender is the female gender, the person's sex in law becomes that of a woman. Where under any legislation it is necessary to decide the sex of a person who has an acquired gender, or to say whether that person is a man or a woman, or male or female, the question must he answered in accordance with the person's acquired gender.

Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are aware of any cases of persons certified at birth as male who have given birth to children. [HL613]

Lord Filkin

I am not aware of any cases of persons certified at birth as male who have given birth to children, nor is any record kept.

Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many people have changed their sex in the last five years for which records are available. [HL614]

Lord Filkin

According to data collected by the Department of Health from primary care trusts in England, there were 364 finished admissions for operations for sexual transformations in the NHS between 1998 and 2003. That figure does not account for those being treated within the NHS for gender identity disorders, but who are yet to receive in patient care. Records are not available for the number of people who have undergone, or are undergoing, sex change treatment abroad or in private practice.

Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will make it a criminal offence to lie when a person is asked about his or her biological sex by a member of the clergy in connection with a marriage ceremony. [HL615]

Lord Filkin

There is nothing to prevent a minister asking a parishioner whether they have lived previously in another gender. Whether the parishioner chooses to volunteer the information, or answer a question that has been asked, is a matter for that individual and for the relationship between the parishioner and the clergyman. This is not an area in which the state should get involved. Ultimately, it seems unlikely that a person who has changed gender would place him or herself in the embarrassing position of forcing the issue before a minister who, in conscience, did not want to marry him or her. The Government agreed in Grand Committee on 14 January to look again at the detail of the "conscience clause" within the Gender Recognition Bill and to consider providing further protection for the conscience of the clergy.

Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether it will be possible for biological male persons whose births have been registered as female under the Gender Recognition Bill to be charged with, and found guilty of, rape of a female person. [HL674]

Lord Filkin

A transsexual person who has been legally recognised as a woman by law in the UK under gender recognition legislation could be charged with, and found guilty of, the rape of another female person. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 in England and Wales is very specific about the relevant act, rather than the gender or sex of the defendant or complainant. Because many sexual offences in Scottish law remain gender-specific, the Gender Recognition Bill includes a clause relating to Scottish gender-specific offences. Northern Ireland is currently reviewing its legislation on sexual offences with the intention of recasting this to be gender neutral.