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# Judge rules gender dysphoria diagnosis “unnecessary” for legal recognition
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/judge-rules-gender-dysphoria-diagnosis-unnecessary-for-legal-recognition/
- Published: 2021-05-21T15:25:26.000Z
- Updated: 2021-05-21T15:25:26.000Z
- Description: A judge ruled that the requirement for trans people to receive a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to be legally recognised is unjustified.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Queer Corner, LGBTQ, Northern Ireland, Trans Rights, Transgender

![](https://www.gscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/trans-flag-600-400.jpg)

In a symbolic victory for trans rights, a judge in **Northern Ireland** ruled in favour of an anonymous trans women who sought to eradicate the requirements that trans people are made to meet in order to gain legal recognition. On **May 13, Justice Scoffield** [ruled](https://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIHC/QB/2021/48.html) that the current regulations, in which trans people must receive a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to be legally recognised by their gender, are *“unjustified”.*

The court then determined that the requirement for trans people to prove they are experiencing gender dysphoria was incompatible with regulations laid out by the **European Convention on Human Rights**. However, the ruling is largely symbolic as the judge’s suggestions to discontinue the requirement of a gender dysphoria diagnosis may not progress any further.

![](https://www.gscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/lgbt-trans-flags-600-400.jpg)

In 2019, the **World Health Organisation** stopped classifying trans identities as a disorder, moving from a definition of ‘gender identity disorder’ to ‘gender incongruence’ in an effort to *“reduce stigma”*. However, a diagnosis of gender dysphoria continues to be a legal requirement for trans people to be legally recognised.