Brighton Council adopts new 'MX' title for its transgender population



'Mx', short for 'Mixter', is a gender neutral title

Council's policy committee approved plan yesterday

Move follows report into services for trans people



A council is to include the title 'Mx' on its official forms to be more accommodating to the trans-community.

Campaigners say that 'Mx', short for 'Mixter', is a gender neutral alternative to Mr, Mrs, Ms and Miss.

Brighton and Hove city council's trans-equality panel previously pointed out that the gender part of forms allows people to say if they are male, female or other.

It said the lack of options in the title field does not provide for people who do not identify as male or female.



Brighton and Hove city council is to offer 'Mx' as a title option on official forms following a review of services for trans people

Yesterday the council's policy and resources committee approved a series of measures, including the removal of the need for patients to choose from male or female options when they check in at electronic screens on arrival at a GP surgery.



Other recommendations include ensuring all councillors and police staff undertake trans awareness training and introducing gender neutral toilets and changing rooms, suggested by the council's trans-equality scrutiny panel.

Brighton has a gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans population of about 40,000.



The recommendations will now be passed on to the full council.

Ruth Rose, 79, of Newhaven, Sussex, who was born male, said: 'It can be difficult in GP surgeries - I am not recognised.

'If I put in female I am not found if I put in male - which I am not - I am not found.

'You have to decide between one sex or the other depending on what stage of your transition you are at.

'And in some situations, for example, when you are getting your bins collected, does it matter if you are male or female?'

The recommendation follows the suggestions from Brighton and Hove city council to introduce gender neutral toilets and send councillors and police to trans awareness training

The report noted: 'The Trans Equality Scrutiny Panel was ground-breaking, being the first in the country to carry out, in a sensitive and effective way, a detailed investigation into the experiences and needs of trans individuals and community in the city.

'It provides a firm and clear foundation for all public services to build on in terms of improving their understanding of and service provision to the trans community.

'For example, during the panel process housing officers committed to commissioning trans awareness training and city services committed looking at the introducing more flexibility on honorific titles (such as Mr, Ms) within online forms.'

The clinical commissioning group made up of GPs across the county said it would implement the changes.

Green Party councillor Phelim MacCafferty, chairman of the trans-equality and scrutiny panel which was set up in May 2012, said: 'Our transgender community is one of the most disadvantaged and marginalised groups in Brighton and Hove.

'There has been inadequate awareness of lives of trans people for too long.

'The recommendations of our cross party panel will make the city a fairer place for trans people to live, work, study or visit here.'