The Member of Parliament for Eastleigh, Mims Davies, has joined Transgender campaigner and constituent Tara Maclachlan for a meeting with Equalities Minister Nick Gibb MP.
Commenting afterwards, Mims said:
“I was delighted to be able to organise this meeting for Tara to chat with Equalities Minister Nick Gibb at the Department for Education about improving Transgender Rights.”
“As a former member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee – where we were the first Parliament in the World to investigate Transgender Rights - I welcome the Government is continuing to take equalities issues forward.”
“It is vital that LGBT+ rights are taken seriously, and with a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 due to be launched soon, it was important to me that, having carried out so much work in this area both locally and nationally, Tara was provided with an opportunity to feed in to that process.”
A number of policy areas were discussed during the meeting, including the support and protection of Transgender children in schools, the portrayal of Transgender people in the media, and the need for a simpler process for full legal recognition and obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Commenting further, Mims said:
“I would like to thank the Equalities Minister Nick Gibb for taking the time to meet with us, and for listening carefully to the items raised during the meeting. I know that both myself and Tara were reassured to hear that the consultation on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 will be launched soon, so that those affected across my Eastleigh constituency and across the country can feed in their views.”