My World Matters Transgender Awareness

1. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Transgender Awareness
Understanding transgender people and recognising the challenges they
may face
My World Matters

2. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Transgender People
Trans is often used as an umbrella term for transgender people
It means that an individuals gender identity and/or gender expression
differs from the gender they were assigned at birth:
• Gender Identity: Internal self-perception of own gender
• Gender Expression: External gendered appearance and behaviour
My World Matters

3. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
• Everyone has both a gender identity and also a sexual orientation
• These are two different things
• Your gender identity is your personal view of your own gender
• Your sexual orientation is your personal view of who you are attracted to
• Transgender people and their partners can be straight, gay, lesbian or
bisexual - just the same as everyone else!
My World Matters

4. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
My World Matters

5. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Transsexual People
• Intense need to live fully in different gender
• Often, but not always, take hormones or have some surgery
My World Matters

6. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Non-Binary People
• About gender identity rather than physical sex
• Don’t identify simply as a man or a woman
• New gender-neutral title: Mx
• Gender-neutral pronoun: they
• Might take hormones or have surgeries
• Various terms: genderqueer, gender-fluid, agender, non-gendered...
My World Matters

7. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Cross-dressing People
• About gender expression rather than gender identity
• Expressing aspects of self or exploring gender
• Mostly content with birth gender
My World Matters

8. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Stress Some Trans People Experience
• 73% have experienced hate crime due to being trans
• 81% avoid some social situations out of fear
• 67% feel need to ‘pass’ as non-trans to be accepted
• 52% experienced employment discrimination
• 46% of those transitioning experienced difficulty accessing hormones
and surgeries
My World Matters

9. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Social Attitudes
• 55% of public said they would be unhappy about a family member
forming a relationship with someone who cross-dresses in public.
• 49% said the same of someone who has undergone genital surgery as
part of gender reassignment.
• Gypsy travellers were only other minority group with similarly high
levels of negative social attitudes towards them.
My World Matters

10. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Equality Act 2010
• Protects in employment and service provision
• Gender reassignment protected characteristic:
• Proposing / undergoing / undergone
• Any part of a process for reassigning sex
• Changing physiological (biological functioning) or other attributes of sex
(social functioning)
• Perception and association also covered
My World Matters

11. Skills Edge Training
The Union Building, Rose Lane, Norwich, NR1 1BY | 03333 583559 | info@skillsedge.co.uk
Name and Gender
• Can use just a statutory declaration (or a deed poll instead), at any age, can
change name and gender on all documents except birth certificate
• Trans status and previous details are ‘sensitive data’ under Data Protection Act
• 2 years later, if over 18: Optional gender recognition certificate to change birth
certificate
• No requirement for hormones or surgery
• Additional privacy protection: criminal offence to reveal gender recognition
history without consent
My World Matters