In many walks of life, you want to use the minimum amount of effort to achieve a goal but often the results seem out of proportion to the amount of effort that’s been expended. It’s perhaps somewhat frustrating that 18 months after a number of us put quite a bit of work into the Stonewall protests, not that much really seems to have changed. Similarly, protests and letters about recent events in Milawi and Pakistan don’t seem to have made any difference. Despite this, I get the sense that something may shifted subtly over the last few days that will have a real long term benefit.

A quick exchange with a new MP – a few comments from people along the lines of “What’s the point of the gender markers anyway?”, although I ventured at the time that whilst it’s a good idea, “society is probably a couple of decades away from this being achievable”. This is hardly a new idea, as Christine Burns wrote about it over a decade ago. I do like her title, “Fourth Column Revolutionary”, referring to the removal of the fourth column, gender, from birth certificates. It sounds like the title of a Cold War thriller. (Also – my military ID, MOD90 has no gender marker on it but my Driving Licence does have “Miss” on it, as well as the gender ID in the driving licence number, with second digit being 5 or 6 for women or 0/1 for men. Can anyone with a UK Driving Licence prior to 2006 confirm my suspicion that the Mr/Miss wasn’t present on the licence back then and that the equivalent does not appear on most other EU licences even now? Tempting to write to the DVLA and ask why they changed it if they did.)

Stuff happens in parliament and my blog entry on the topic is picked up and quoted by a Government Minister in her blog. People comment and there a productive discussion on the topic, plus No2ID inevitably pick up on the story (Yes, I meant “defend against”) as do The Register.

Maybe we’re not two decade away – maybe the “right time” is now, with the new government in place and wanting to make it’s mark? Even if nothing changes now, as far as I can see having the discussion at this level can only help equality.