WITH proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act afoot, sex has become a hot topic – whether an individual is born male or female and whether that assigned sex is unchangeable.

This might sound like the kind of obscure theoretical discussion that's seldom heard outside of university debating chambers, but an increasing number of people on both sides of the divide have had a lot to say on it recently. And it's having very real consequences.

At one end of the spectrum are those who believe that sex, as assigned at birth, is the most important thing and cannot be changed.

They reject the idea that people who transition from one gender to the other are that gender; so people born into male bodies who live as female, through some combination of clothing, hormones and surgery are, to them, always male, and vice versa.

These people want to maintain single-sex services and spaces, generally for women, so transgender women, who were born with an apparently male body but who feel, live and present as female, are not welcome.

On the other side are those who argue not only that we are who we feel inside but also that there is increasing scientific evidence that being transgender is in an individual's biology.

They argue that those who have transitioned should not be excluded from single-sex spaces, so a transgender woman would use the female changing room at a swimming pool or be on a female ward in hospital, and vice versa.

The debate has become a hot topic on social media platforms, in newspaper columns, and with real life meetings and lobbying, partly due to the government's plans to change the Gender Recognition Act, making it easier for transgender people to live as their affirmed gender.

Under current law, individuals are legally recognised as the gender on their birth certificates. This can be corrected for transgender individuals with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), which effectively replaces a birth certificate.

Applicants must meet certain criteria to gain the certificate, such as providing evidence of living as the preferred gender for two years. Then, the application must be approved by the Gender Recognition Panel. Legal and medical professionals sit on the panel.

Theresa May has indicated that they law will change to make it easier to obtain a GRC, without medical checks.

She said: "being trans is not an illness and it should not be treated as such."

The debate has been been hotting up even more, with the Girl Guides allowing trans girls to join, which critics argue is making it unisex, and trans women being allowed on Labour Party all-women shortlists.

Among those campaigning for the right to choose single sex services, which exclude individual who have transitioned and live as that gender, is Jane Robertson, from Southampton.

Jane, who works in human resources, argues that proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act are being pushed through without women being consulted or considered.

It is a controversial position. She is part of an informal group, Sex Matters, formed by Mums Net users, and says that their meetings are often cancelled and they are called bigots and transphobic, both terms which she strongly rejects.

Jane argues for the right to maintain single sex spaces, but goes further, to say that it is simply not possible to be transgender.

"A man cannot become a woman," she says.

"You cannot make yourself into the opposite sex. It simply doesn't happen."

She argues that the transgender lobby is powerful and that women's voices are not being heard.

"I feel we need to discuss the changes," she says.

"Last year there was a government consultation on the changes and they only asked trans organisations."

Sex Matters, the campaign group that Jane is involved in, recently held a meeting at the House of Commons to discuss objections to the Gender Recognition Act, but she says that their meetings are often cancelled and argues that the voices of women who object to the changes are being silenced.

"There is a very active transgender lobby, insisting that sex-based rights should be eliminated. They have convinced the government that they're right and women aren't being asked if this is OK," she says.

Jane argues that men will be able to use the proposed change to the law to access women-only spaces, making the women in them vulnerable.

"We all want to be nice, but this is really eroding sex-based protection," she says.

"If men say they are women, we are just expected to shut up and accept it. I don't agree that if I'm in the changing rooms at a swimming pool or on a hospital ward, somewhere where people are vulnerable, that men can put themselves in that situation. I don't get it."

She continues: "A man cannot ever be a woman. We are born as male or female. You cannot change sex. They need help.

"I know people who live as women. The idea that there is an inner feeling of being a woman is something they believe, but we are not born in the wrong body.

"They can have whatever treatment they want, but I don't accept the law being changed to eliminate male and female."

Jenny argues that the current system works and should be maintained.

"We've rubbed along quite comfortably for some time," she says.

"People can get a Gender Recognition Certificate, so the law says it's OK, but obviously, they're still male," she says, something which transgender people and their allies would strongly dispute.

"I don't feel uncomfortable with the existing laws, but now they are being pushed too far," she argues.

"What's the reason for the change? I feel we need to discuss it and understand it.

"My hope is that the government will listen to us. We want a debate, because sex matters."

ANDI Maratos, CEO of gender identity issues charity Chrysalis, which supports people with gender identity issues and their families, is concerned about the growing negative discussions in the press and on social media about transgender people.

"We're seeing people making an almost philosophical argument about transgender and trying to restate opinion as fact," she says.

"One of the main things that isn't being discussed is the huge and increasing body of medical evidence that being transgender is part of your biology, for instance a report in Nature on January 15, 2018, which shows evidence of the reality of transgender biology before birth.

"It affects your physical body and your sense of identity – the way you understand yourself.

"To tell a transgender person that essentially your philosophy says they don't exist, so they don't, is horrific.

"It's important to recognise that being transgender is a medical fact, not a choice."

Andi says that the argument that men could abuse any changes in the law to make it easier to obtain a gender recognition certificate to get access to vulnerable women does not hold up.

"If someone is going to be abusive, we can put all the protection in place and it's still going to happen. Men have been abusing women for years. We need to move away from victim blaming and look at the perpetrators and social structure that lets some men believe that sexual predation is their right.

"It's disingenuous to focus the argument on trans women, and it shows ignorance of the process of transitioning.

"Once a trans woman has her hormones, her testosterone drops to female levels.

"And the changes in the law are going to make it become simpler to get a gender recognition certificate, but it's still going to be a legal process. It's not the case that someone could say they were a woman to get access to women's facilities and then go back to living as a man without breaking the law," adds Andi, who welcomes plans to make it easier to obtain a gender recognition certificate.

Andi is particularly concerned that the arguments that have recently been circulating are doing real damage to transgender people, both psychologically and in terms of violence and even murder.

"These campaigns increase the risk of violence to trans men and women," she says.

"More trans people around the globe were murdered last year than the previous year.

"There is a danger in giving the voice of unreason the same platform as scientific fact, that transgender biology exists.

"We have seen the danger over the previous year when fake news is given credence. In the rightwing media recently, virtually every article about transgender issues has had an anti-transgender bias.

"It's so evocative of the fear of gay people that we saw in the 80s, which culminated in some awful things like the nail bombing in London.

"People conflate, quite horribly, transgender people as predators.

"We need to go back to the biological fact that transgender people are real."

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