6 Conclusion

The key points discussed in this booklet have been as follows:

Transsexualism is the condition in which a person is born with a mental gender opposite to their physical sex.
Transsexualism is a rare, but genuine and debilitating, medical condition, for which the only possible treatment is gender reassignment.
Transsexualism is not transvestism or homosexuality.
Transsexualism is not a perversion or a 'lifestyle choice'. Transsexuals do not choose to be the way they are, they are born that way.
Gender Reassignment for transsexuals enables them to become fully functional citizens, and has a very high success rate.
Gender Reassignment is now almost unobtainable on the NHS. Private treatment is extremely expensive, putting it out of the reach of many transsexuals. Psychological problems and suicides frequently result when treatment is unobtainable.
Transsexuals are unjustifiably stigmatised by society in general and by UK law in particular. Transsexuals in Britain are denied basic rights and freedoms that all other citizens take for granted.
Britain lags behind most other developed countries in its treatment of its transsexual citizens.
Allowing post-treatment transsexuals to have their Birth Certificates corrected, and recognising their new gender legally, would greatly reduce the discrimination that they suffer, and would restore most of the basic rights and freedoms that they are denied.^[1]

Addendum:

Since this primer was published UK government has produced the The Gender Recognition Act 2004, which gained Royal Assent on 1 July 2004. This act allows an individual who is (a) living in the other gender, or (b) having changed gender under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate. This certifies that the individual is legally recognised as their chosen gender, except in specific circumstances . The full act is available here. Application would be made through the Gender Recognition Panal.