Tracy Dean

Tracy Dean

Tracy Dean is one of the small team from Press for Change that was involved in meetings with the Department for Constitutional Affairs during the drafting of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and up until the Act came into force.

She graduated from the University of Brighton as a Software Engineer in 2003 and sells her own video editing effects software from her website, as well as running this site.

As a genealogist, Tracy is considered to be the resident expert on the civil registration system and has been particularly involved in respect of the design of the layout of birth certificates for those that have obtained a gender recognition certificate (GRC). As part of this process she undertook, on behalf of the Registrar General’s Office, a survey of what the community wanted.

She has been a Vice President of Press for Change since 2002 but her involvement with the trans community stretches back to the mid-80s. Until 2001, she was chair of The Gender Trust (GT) for 6 years and a trustee for 9 years.

It was during her tenure as Chair of GT that Tracy responded to the Government’s consultation which lead to the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999.

Unfortunately, on that occasion the Government rushed through the legislation and enacted law that was itself discriminatory whilst supposedly protecting trans people. It was a case of one step forward and two steps back.

It is perhaps because of Tracy’s long experience in a support organisation (GT), and her consequent knowledge of the difficulties faced by trans people undergoing transition and medical treatment, that she is currently representing Press For Change and it’s members on the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Intercollegic Working Group on Standards of Care in the Treatment of Transsexual Adults.

While this group is looking at what treatments should be available and how those treatments are administered, we are having to push the clinicians extensively to do anything but set in stone current practice. And current practice leaves a lot to be desired - see the Spectrum independent report on the medical needs of trans people in her own area which is scathing of the current provider - the main provider of NHS treatment in this country. Tracy is also a member of a Focus Group dedicated to addressing the issues highlighted in the Spectrum report.