PRESS RELEASE: "No Room at the Inn: Transsexual people to be banned from churches and housing

Press for Change, the UK’s transsexual rights campaign, Press for Change, the UK’s transsexual rights campaign, today expressed horror at proposals to ban transsexual people from churches and from housing run by religious bodies.

Amendments 100-102 to the Gender Recognition Bill would allow churches and religious bodies to ban transsexual people from membership, and to prevent them using the services or facilities of such bodies.  It would also allow transsexual people to be denied housing.

Claire McNab, vice-president of Press For Change, said today:

“This is nastiness on stilts. The Lords are not only being asked to allow us to be banned from churches, but to be made homeless.  I pray that all decent christians will roundly condemn this proposal.”

No similar exclusion exists for any group of people. It is illegal to refuse accommodation to a woman, or to ban someone because of their race.

“The Gender Recognition Bill is intended to protect the human rights of transsexual people.  This amendment attempts to use the bill to turn us into lepers.”

Amendments to the Gender Recognition Bill are to be debated tomorrow, 29th January, at Report Stage in the House of Lords. Amendments No.s 100-102 have been tabled by the Conservative peer, Baroness O’Cathain.

Notes To Editors

1. The amendments are available on the parliamentary web site at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldbills/004/amend/ml004-ria.htm
2. The full text of the Gender Recognition Bill is available at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldbills/004/2004004.htm
3. The relevant sections of the Gender Recognition Bill amend the Sex Discrimination Act, which is available on the Press For Change web site at: http://www.pfc.org.uk/legal/sda.htm

Contacts and information