Accommodating gender diversity in modern Ireland: A proposal for the reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2015

Leonard, Leoni. (2023). Accommodating gender diversity in modern Ireland: A proposal for the reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2015. University of Galway Law Review, 2.

Abstract

The year 2015 marked a seismic shift in the tectonic plates of the Irish legal landscape. One needs little reminder of the passing of the Marriage Equality Referendum, which saw Ireland receive global acclaim for its advancements in the area of LGBTQI+ rights. 1 Concurrent to this was the introduction of the Gender Recognition Act 2015, which despite having gone relatively unnoticed in comparison to the aforementioned, has been dubbed “the vanguard of international best practice” in respect of transgender human rights. 2 At the time, this Act was subject to great praise for the rights it affords to transgender individuals.3 However, some deficiencies in the Act are now evident, primarily that it neglects to recognise the rights of non-binary and intersex individuals. This article will argue that for Ireland to uphold its reputation as a front runner in this area of law, and in order to rectify this “inexplicable delay and denial” of rights, considerable reform must be implemented.4 Specifically, this article proposes the introduction of two new legal genders as a workable solution.

Publisher

University of Galway

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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Collections

School of Law (Scholarly Articles)