U.K. Gender Reassignment and Sex Orientation

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The reassignment of gender
Defining gender reassignment
Sexual orientation
Issues of gender reassignment
Transgender issues
Gender reassignment from a legal perspective
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction

The sex discrimination laws of 1999 can as well be looked at as a measure that has been instituted with a view to protecting the rights of the transsexual individuals. This is on with respect to the way such people are normally treated either while in their areas of employment, or during vocational training. For this reason, this sex discrimination regulation concurs with the ruling of court of justice of the Europeans. The ruling holds that by dismissing an employee who may be undergoing a sexual realignment, such an act is tantamount to violating the European directive on equal treatment (Jefferson 2006).

As of 1st December 2003, the employment equality regulations were enforced. From that point on, it was deemed as unlawful to discriminate workers by employees based on their sexual orientation. Fairness in the workplace has a direct relationship with job performance (Business link 2008). When an employer tackles discrimination adequately, he/she attracts a staff. Moreover, such a staff feels motivated, and is thus retained, with the result that the reputation of an organization gets enhanced.

When discrimination has been eliminated in the workplace, this ensures that everyone gets an equal opportunity to work, as well as develop their relevant skills (Honeyball & Bowers 2008). The existing legislation offers protection to individuals against discrimination ob race, sex, gender reassignment, and disability grounds.

From the 2nd of December 2003 then, there came into force a separate set of regulations that offers protection from discrimination on belief and religious grounds. From the perspective of the sexual discrimination regulations, a definition of the term sexual orientation has the meaning of the act of being sexually attracted to a similar sex, like in the case of lesbians and gay men. it also takes the meaning of a heterosexual, or even a bisexual (Hill 2008).

The reassignment of gender

When the sex discrimination laws of 1999 came into being, they helped in the clarification of United Kingdom’s laws that have a relationship to the reassignment of gender. These have been implemented as a measure towards the prevention of the discrimination of transsexual people with regard to sex in payment, either in the place of work, or at the vocational training center (Kidner 2007).

The institution of these laws is in keeping with the directives of the Europe court of justice to the effect that dismissing an employee who is undergoing gender reassignment goes contrary to the European directive on equal treatment. Consequently, the United Kingdom has also been bound by the regulation to obey these laws that have been implemented, and which also applies to all the other European nations.

Thus far, the regulations have had an impact on the 1975 sex discrimination act, by way of inserting a provision that transe4nds this act. To this end, the provision, in reference to vocational training and employment, has also included the act of discrimination on gender reassuring grounds in its definition.

Owing to this reason, a discrimination against individuals who have undergone a gender realignment will as well be a constituent of sex discrimination, and this is in total disregard of the act on sex discrimination (Jefferson 2006).

Those employees who are in breach of the 1975 sex discrimination act are thus liable to almost a similar punishment by the law, just as they would if they were to be accused of a discrimination against women on sexual grounds.

Defining gender reassignment

The law prohibits against discriminating on a person in terms of employment simply because such an individual either intends on having a gender reassignment, or such an individual is at the moment undergoing through a gender reassignment procedure. Further, the law also protects against the discrimination of individuals who may have in the past successfully undergone through a gender reassignment process.

This far, the United Kingdom has managed to implement the 2000/78 directive within the sexual orientation discrimination directive. This has not only been done on time, but the exercise has largely been successful also, in as far as the compliance with the set provision is concerned. Both the Northern Ireland as well as Great Britain is signatories to this regulation (Honeyball & Bowers 2008).

In addition, the provision has outlined in detail the material and personal scope of the relevant law, the harassment and discrimination concepts, as well as the exceptions to the non-discrimination principle in line with what the directive permits. Further, the regulations have also taken into consideration the broad provisions on remedies and enforcement. In the UK, there are effective and resourceful statutory commissions that also have a responsibility to monitor equalities laws, as well as offer support to those individuals who would wish to bring forth unlawful discrimination complaints (Jefferson 2006).

At the moment, the United Kingdom prohibits employers from discriminating their employees while they are on the employment filed on sexual grounds, civil and marital partnership status, race, gender reassignment, religion, disability, age, or sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation

In the current standing of the law, and bearing in mind there exist no prohibition on less favorable treatment of an individual by virtue of their association with a member of the opposite sex, the implication here is that, a barman, for instance, who gets dismissed after refusing to follow instructions against serving a married person, or a woman for that matter, may not claim sex discrimination (Lockton 2006).

Conversely, a dismissal for such a person after failing to serve a black person would constitute a discrimination against race, according to the law. The impression one gets here is that it is possible for an employee to claim a direct discrimination after he is treated less favorably by an employer on a number of grounds. First, if he refuses to follow and obey his employers instructions, that appears to be discriminatory on grounds of sexual orientation, race, belief, and religion, but not on age, sex, or gender reassignment.

Secondly, an individual can claim a direct discrimination if they associate with another parson from different race, belief, religion, or sexual orientation, but not with a person of a particular age, gender reassignment, or sex. Finally, discrimination may be justified on grounds of attitude to a particular religion, race, sexual orientation, or belief, but not on age, sex, or gender reassignment grounds (Jefferson 2006). This justification holds so long as the attitude of such a person is not seen to be discriminatory.

Issues of gender reassignment

Up to today, over 5,000 individuals in the United Kingdom alone have been reported as having been victims of transsexualism. As of now, a majority of these are undergoing medical treatment with a view to help match their gender identity, and the recorded success in the medical fraternity in phenomenal (Selwyn 2006).

The gender reassignment process is a complex affair. When a transsexual is being diagnosed, usually the help of a specialist is often sought, and the procedure could take days, moths, or even in rare cases, years. Once a preliminary diagnosis is complete, this is followed by the hormonal therapy stage. After six months of hormonal therapy, a change in the physical appearance of a person is often detectable.

The dismissal of an individual on grounds of a gender reassignment treatment contravenes the sex discrimination order, just as it would be unlawful to dismiss a woman from employment on grounds that they are pregnant (Zipfel 2005). In itself, the condition of transexiualism should be treated like any other serious conditions that involve the alteration of life. In addition, there is a high chance of the victims suffering from stress as a result of such an alteration (Taylor & Emir 2006).

The good thing is that once such issue have been unearthed, it then becomes easier to resolve this problem. Most of the people suffering from transexualism do not normally want their status to be known buy the public. Some may be willing to confide in a few people about their problem. For this reason it is important that employers respects and do not breach the personal privacy of their employees who may be facing such a predicament (Townsend 2004). In addition, the employers should also recognize that it is a prerogative of their individual employees to either discus of discloses their personal medical histories.

Transgender issues

In the United Kingdom, discrimination either in training or employment with regard to gender reassignment if often viewed at as a form of discrimination against sex. Moreover, the public authorities in Great Britain are duty bound to ensure that there is gender equality taking place at all times (Zipfel 2005). This is often seen as an obligation on their part to see to it that gender equality is promoted, with a view to eliminating sex discrimination.

At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear that legislation towards the prohibition of sex discrimination in the provision of goods, services and other facilities is now imminent. In the United Kingdom, it is not a requirement for an individual to carry an identification card, or any other document for that matter that bears the name of the holder. On the same note, individual are also free to choose those names that they deem appropriate.

The 2004 Gender Recognition Act that was enforced in April 2005, and which now has its applications all over the United Kingdom, makes it possible fro those individuals who are transgender and who have satisfied given criteria, to apply for a gender recognition certificate from a special panel that recognizes the place of gender. Once an individual has been granted such a certificate, then they are also afforded a legal recognition of their acquired gender (Taylor & Emir 2006).

From that point hence froth, one can then obtain and get a birth certificate; one that does not divulge the fact that such a bearer of the certificate changed their gender. On the other hand, a married transgender person may not acquire a full certificate. The reason behind this is that in the United Kingdom, only same sex marriage has this far been permitted.

Gender reassignment from a legal perspective

In the case of an individual who happens to be living in the United Kingdom, and who has also undergone a gender reassignment, the law allows fro such an individual to have a chance of having their personal details changes, to reflect the new identity. Although the details in the original birth certificate remains as they are, he/she id free to change their personal insurance number, and their driving license. Currently however, a United Kingdom citizen is not able to alter his/her birth certificate after having undergone a gender reassignment. Nevertheless, such an individual can still obtain in their new identity other official documents.

Conclusion

The United Kingdom discrimination laws ranges from discrimination on the grounds of physical disability, race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender reassignment. The last two forms the basis of this paper. In either the workplace or during vocational training, some individuals may experience discrimination by virtue of having undergone a gender reassignment, or as a result of having a sexual orientation that is different from that of the larger population.

This is not reason enough to warrant their discrimination of such individuals in the workplace. The enforcement of the employment equality law back in the December of 2003 ensures that such a minority group is protected, and that their employers do not dismiss them from their work, just as they would not dismiss a woman who turns out to be pregnant at the place of work.

Bibliography

Business link (2008). Prevent discrimination and value diversity. Web.

Honeyball, S, & Bowers, J, 2008, Text book on Employment Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Hill, R, 2008, United Kingdom: discrimination based on perception and association. Web.

Jefferson, M, 2006, Principles of Employment Law 5th Ed Cavendish Publishing, New York.

Lockton, D.J. 2006, Employment Law, 5th Ed, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Lockton, G. (2008), Employment Law, 6th edition, Palgrave, London.

Kidner (2007) Statutes on Employment Law 17th Ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Pitt, G. 2007, Employment Law 6th Ed, Sweet & Maxwell, London.

Painter, R, & Holmes, A, 2006, Cases and Materials on Employment Law 6th Ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Selwyn, N, 2006, Law of Employment, 14th Ed, Butterworths, Oxford.

Taylor, S, & Emir, A, 2006, Employment Law: an introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

The Northern Concorde, 1999, Sex discrimination-gender realignment regulations. Web.

Townshend, S, 2004, Cases and Materials on Discrimination Law 2nd Ed, Cavendish, London.

Zipfel, R, 2005, Gender realignment. Web.

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