Equality Tribunal decision
The Equality Tribunal has found that AIB discriminated against transgender woman Deirdre O’Byrne because it refused to alter the name on her bank account after she had legally changed it by deed poll. The key issue in this case was whether Ms O’Byrne’s identity had changed by virtue of the fact that she was now living as a woman.
The bank argued that a person who changed their gender also changed their identity. The bank’s policy was that anyone who had changed their name by deed poll must close their existing accounts and open new accounts. Their policy had an exception for people who changed their name through marriage or civil partnership.
Ms O’Byrne argued that she had not changed her identity or gender – rather, she had affirmed her true gender. She argued that because transgender people go through a transition over various periods of time there is no stage where a person has changed gender from one to another. Correspondingly Ms O’Byrne argued that as a transgender person, she had been treated differently to a person in a comparable situation. She submitted that the discrimination ground of gender under the Equal Status Acts protects transgender people from discrimination.
The Equality Officer deciding the case used the example of a woman who changes her name after getting married to show that Ms O’Byrne was treated differently and was being discriminated against on gender grounds by AIB. The Equality Officer ordered AIB to pay Ms O’Byrne €5,000 and review its policy in relation to people who change their name.
Gender Recognition Legislation report
Meanwhile, on 16 January the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection released a report on proposed gender recognition legislation. That report made recommendations on terminology; the age at which a person is entitled to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (the Committee recommended 16 years of age); the marital status of applicants (the Committee recommended that the Minister revisit the requirement that an applicant not be in a marriage or civil partnership); evidence of transition; guidelines for schools; participation in sport (ie guidelines for sporting regulatory bodies); and changes to equality legislation (ie legal sanction in cases of discrimination of transgendered people).
PILA Bulletin readers may recall that the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) and other LGBT support bodies appeared before the Committee in October 2013 to discuss the proposed legislation.
Click here to read the Committee’s report.
Click here to read a TENI press release that summarises the Committee’s recommendations.