1. Trans Awareness Training for SQA
James Morton
Scottish Transgender Alliance Manager
Equality Network

2. Transgender People ‘Umbrella’ terms: Trans = Transgender
Gender identity and/or gender expression differs from gender assigned at birth
Gender Identity = internal self-perception of own gender
Gender Expression = external gendered appearance and behaviour

3. Sexual Orientation ≠ 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!

4. Cross-Dressing People
Trans Umbrella
Transsexual People
Cross-Dressing People
Non-Binary People
Trans
Women
Trans
Men

5. Transsexual People Trans woman: Trans man:
Intense need to live fully in different gender
Often, but not always, take hormones or have some surgery
Trans woman:
Male to Female (MTF)
Assigned male at birth
Female gender identity
Transitions to live as woman
Trans man:
Female to Male (FTM)
Assigned female at birth
Male gender identity
Transitions to live as man

6. 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...

7. Cross-dressing People
About gender expression rather than gender identity
Expressing aspects of self or exploring gender
Mostly content with birth gender
________________________________________________
Drag
Performance art or comedy
Usually drag artists are not trans people

8. Meyer’s concept of Minority Stress
External stressful events
Expectations of such events
Possible internalisation of negative societal attitudes
Concealment

9. 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

10. Social Attitudes
55% of Scottish 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 in Scotland.
Statistics from Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, Scottish Government, 2010

11. 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

12. 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

13. SQA Records
Must issue replacement qualification certificates in new name and gender to enable privacy of gender history
Not allowed to require medical evidence
Statutory declaration of change of name will be most common form of evidence
An obvious change in the gender of the name on the statutory declaration is enough to show it is also a gender change
If no statutory declaration, then a letter confirming change of name and gender can be accepted instead
May receive late requests many years after gender reassignment

14. Contact Info:
Scottish Transgender Alliance
Equality Network, 30 Bernard Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6PR
Office:
@ScottishTrans on twitter