MPs oppose ‘deeply disturbing’ trans data bill amendments

A cross-party group of MPs has condemned the proposed amendment to the UK data bill. As a result, trans people could be forced to be publicly disclosed or erased from public records.

The changes to data (usage and access) proposed by Tory MP Ben Spencer will force public agencies gathering information to provide data based on their birth gender rather than the latest documentation.

If passed, the amendment will force agencies such as the NHS and driver and vehicle licensing agencies to update records according to their birth gender, rather than documented with a Gender Identification Certificate (GRC), which allows trans people to renew their legally recognized gender.

This could lead to “inaccurate” details that could cause health and legal issues at a later date by purging data for all trans people listed in public records and trans people.

Prior to the vote on Wednesday (May 7), Green Party and Labour lawmakers condemned the proposed changes and urged them to be rejected.

Given the majority of workers in the House, the amendment is unlikely to pass, but backventure Clive Lewis said HuffPost UK This idea sets a dangerous precedent for data collection in the UK. “If the nation can invalidate your legal identity, record you as something you are not and share it with all public systems, no one’s rights are safe,” he argued.

“This is not a data accuracy, it is an institutionalized erasure, and comes with a very dark, authoritarian dystopian Claxon,” he argued. “People who are remotely interested in living in a free, fair and tolerant society should oppose this.”

Spencer’s amendment reworks the bill’s definition of “sex” meaning “gender at birth, gender at birth or biological sex,” and requires public organizations to collect data “according to that definition.” Authorities must remove “inaccurate data” within 18 months of the bill becoming law.

Given that GRC allows trans men and women to obtain new birth certificates using updated gender markers, it is possible that people’s birth sex will be mislabeled.

Greens MPSiân Berry described the amendment as “deeply intrusive,” adding that data for transgender people must be protected by “people with the power to create new laws.”

The amendment is “a serious violation of the Trans People’s right to privacy,” she added, and it puts “a massive outing of trans people across the UK.”

“If passed, it would put the risk of harassment and abuse that this minority community is already facing, and we are pleased that the government opposed this amendment during the bill’s committee stage.

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