Tory MP claims ministers have ‘mishandled’ transgender issues
Maria Miller called for reforms to be made to give trans people better access to healthcare services
By Steve Brown
A Tory MP has claimed ministers have ‘mishandled’ transgender issues.
Maria Miller – who chairs the Commons women and equalities committee – has urged that reforms are needed to help give trans people better access to vital healthcare and claimed there has been a ‘wrongheaded’ focus on making it easier for trans people to get legal recognition of their gender.
The Metro reported Miller saying: “Many trans people simply don’t have access to the basic healthcare that the rest of us take for granted – things like cervical smears are often things that trans men are not able to access.”
It was reported that ministers are proposing to reform the Gender Recognition Act but Miller said no action had been taken on 32 other recommendations made in her report by the committee.
She also added that the announcement of reforms to the act hadn’t been followed up with ‘concrete proposals’.
Miller also claimed the government created a ‘vacuum’ by not making it clear that ‘there is no threat to single-sex services’.
She continued that recognition is ‘not the most pressing issue’ for the trans community and that ‘ministers should focus on getting services right first and foremost’.