Sep 4, 2020. This story has been updated: Following a MET police review the organisers have cancelled this protest, after being warned they could face arrest. Full Statement.

As the U.K. Parliament returns from its summer recess, trans activists were planning a protest in London this weekend ahead of an overdue update on trans rights reforms form the Government. It has now been cancelled after the MET police reviewed their stance on the likelihood of arrests taking place.

Over a thousand people were going to gather to demand plans to change their legal gender by self-identification go ahead. Leaked documents suggest they are due to be dropped by Boris Johnson’s Government.

Plans to introduce self-identification would make the current process of changing your gender shorter, removing the current arduous medicalised transition route.

Among the measures, the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) consultation proposed was removing the need for a panel of doctors to certify an individual’s transition.

Instead, trans people would make a sworn declaration in front of a judge to attest their decision to change gender. This process, known as self-identification, was adopted under plans drawn up under Theresa May’s administration.

But speaking in July whilst re-announcing a two-year-old commitment to ban gay conversion therapy, Boris Johnson said an update to the plans for the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) would be brought forward “this summer.”

However, many activists and commentators believed the update would come after the summer recess, which ends today.

Thousands of transgender people and their supporters march through central London to Parliament ... [+] Square to celebrate the Black trans community, commemorate the Black trans lives lost and protest against potential changes to the Gender Recognition Act on 27 June, 2020 in London, England. The UK government is reportedly planning to scrap proposed self-identification laws for trans and non-binary people without the need for medical diagnosis, despite the government's own consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act showing overwhelming public support for making it more straightforward for trans people to get legal recognition of their gender. (Photo by WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Protest to take place in Parliament Square to demand GRA reform

The protest was due to demand the right to self-identification go ahead, and that it should be available to transgender people under the age of 18 too.

“I am sure the demonstration [would have*] highlighted that, firstly, the trans and non-binary community is strong and full of loving people. But equally of those who are angry and screaming for change,” Fionnlagh, one of the organisers tells me.

“There is no one way to be transgender or non-binary, and this must be reflected [in the reforms.] This government’s interpretation of the GRA public consultation [based on the leaked plans] is incorrect.”

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 27, 2020: Thousands of transgender people and their supporters gather ... [+] at Wellington Arch before marching through central London to Parliament Square to celebrate the Black trans community, commemorate the Black trans lives lost and protest against potential changes to the Gender Recognition Act on 27 June, 2020 in London, England. The UK government is reportedly planning to scrap proposed self-identification laws for trans and non-binary people without the need for medical diagnosis, despite the government's own consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act showing overwhelming public support for making it more straightforward for trans people to get legal recognition of their gender.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) Barcroft Media via Getty Images

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The protest follows years of delays and stalling from the Conservative Government and successive Equalities Ministers.

On the first day, Boris Johnson came to power plans to make changing your gender easier in the U.K. were kicked into the long grass.

And this summer, trans charity Gendered Intelligence said they’d been informed, an announcement was expected from Equalities minister Liz Truss in the House of Commons.

However, following a huge letter-writing campaign by Gendered Intelligence–the announcement did not materialise when the minister appeared at the dispatch box.

“I believe that activism has made a difference. We were facing a potential rollback on transgender rights in June,” Rico Jacob Chace, Director at TransActual, who supports the protest, tells me.

“And now as the general public has overwhelmingly supported the change, the three years wait for the outcome of the GRA reform may be nearing an end. The intolerant society we live in today is indirectly and, in some cases, directly cutting our lives short. Therefore we are far from a celebration, so we keep striving forwards.”

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 27, 2020: Thousands of transgender people and their supporters march ... [+] through central London to Parliament Square to celebrate the Black trans community, commemorate the Black trans lives lost and protest against potential changes to the Gender Recognition Act on 27 June, 2020 in London, England. The UK government is reportedly planning to scrap proposed self-identification laws for trans and non-binary people without the need for medical diagnosis, despite the government's own consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act showing overwhelming public support for making it more straightforward for trans people to get legal recognition of their gender.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) Barcroft Media via Getty Images

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A YouGov poll for Pinknews in July this year, shows half of the U.K. population surveyed are in favour of trans people being able to self-identify, with just under a third (27%) who are opposed.

But this also sits alongside a partisan split in data from the poll which shows that while 70% of Labour voters support self-id, only 35% of Conservative voters do.

“What I and other trans people in the country need is active allyship,” Shaira Bambi Choudhury, a speaker at this weekend’s protest tells me.

“It is not enough to get up and declare that you are a trans ally. We need you to actively raise your voice. And when we are unable, to be the ones raising your voices for equal rights for trans people.

“Trans people across the U.K. need you to speak up by challenging any misinformation from strangers, family and friends. Continue to fight your own biases and most importantly write to your M.P.s not just once but as many times as it takes for them to reply.”

*This quote has been amended, with the tense changed, to reflect the cancellation of the protest.

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Source: Forbes

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