The UK Government has confirmed that it does not intend to criminalise people who affirm a gender-confused person’s biological sex.
In a written question tabled in Parliament, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington asked the Government “what plans they have to make it a criminal offence to misgender an individual?”
In response, Home Office Minister Lord Hanson clarified that there are “no such plans”.
Hate crime
In 2022, there was speculation that a Labour Government could criminalise ‘misgendering’, after Sir Keir Starmer told a PinkNews awards ceremony that it was “time for tougher hate crime laws”.
He claimed that “every LGBT+ crime” should be treated as an aggravated offence.
This pledge was incorporated in the Labour Party Manifesto 2024.
Pro-trans guidance
In 2023, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) overhauled advice against ‘misgendering’ those who claim to be the opposite sex, after lawyers challenged it for promoting transgender ideology.
During a review of its social media and non-professional conduct guidance, the regulator for barristers in England and Wales said it received “a lot of criticism and feedback” over a case study in which a gender-confused Twitter user challenges a barrister for upholding the reality of biological sex.
In the example, which has now been dropped, the BSB claimed, “the barrister’s conduct in specifically targeting the transgender woman, threatening, and intentionally misgendering them are likely to be considered seriously offensive and discriminatory”.
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