The number of people applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) has reached a new record. Government figures revealed that there were 1,397 applications in 2023-24 and, of those, 1,088 were granted. Labour has vowed to simplify the process of changing gender, meaning that the numbers could rise further.
Almost 200 applicants for a Gender Recognition Certificate were under 25
Is this something to celebrate? Or should we be worried? These are already big numbers for a life-changing process that was originally envisaged to serve a vanishingly small group of people. The stats from 2023-24 aren’t a one-off: since the pandemic, the numbers have been growing year-on-year. To put it in context, only 3,925 applications were made in the 12 years between 2007/8 and 2018/19 – an average of 327 per year. This indicates a jump of over 400 per cent from that baseline.
This matters. A GRC changes an individual’s gender ‘for all purposes’, according to the 2004
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