Campaigners are calling on the government to give Brianna Ghey a posthumous Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC.)
The 16-year-old trans schoolgirl was discovered on Saturday, February 11, with multiple stab wounds on a path in Culcheth's Linear Park by members of the public.
Under the current UK law, only those who are 18 and over are able to obtain a GRC - which allows a trans person’s gender to be recorded on birth, death and marriage certificates.
READ MORE: Police officer faces dangerous driving probe over young woman's death
Campaigners say Brianna may be misgendered in her death certificate as she wouldn’t have been able to have her gender legally changed and recognised during her lifetime. Merseyside-based campaigner, Mimi - not her real name - has started a campaign with the #DiginityForBrianna with the hope of giving Brianna the "dignity she deserves".
The 32-year-old told the ECHO: “Once, I learned about what happened to Brianna and her age, I realised that she wouldn’t have been eligible for a Gender Recognition Certificate. I started the hashtag because I knew that not having one would mean she wouldn’t be recognised in death for who she was in life and I don’t think a young girl who had her life stolen away deserves to have her life disrespected too.”
When Mimi first learnt of Brianna’s death, she felt “disgust, fear despair and anger”. She said: “There were a lot of different emotions but I decided to channel them into something that could help Brianna. It made me extremely sad but then that turned to rage, how can this country that portrays itself as one of the greatest in the world be failing to allow such a simple thing as a young girl to have dignity in death?”
Mimi is asking others to urge the government to “honour the memory” of who Brianna was. She encourages the trans community and its allies to speak to their local MPs and ask for support. She added: “Not one person on the planet is exempt from death but trans people, especially those under 18 like Brianna, are currently exempt from dignity in it without one.
“The government needs to allow trans people to be given a Gender Recognition Certificate posthumously because nobody should have to face dying and having the dignity of being remembered for who they were denied. Respecting who a person was in life is the bare minimum we can do for them.”
The Government Equalities Office confirmed to the Liverpool ECHO they “don’t comment on individual applications for a Gender Recognition Certificate” and that “certificates are only available to people over 18".
Torran Nathaniel Turner, a 32-year-old trans man, created an online petition with the aim of “amending the Gender Recognition Act to allow for posthumous and expedited grants” in light of Brianna's death.
The IT engineer from Manchester told the ECHO: “The aim of the petition is to ensure that any trans person (of any age) who dies or is diagnosed with a terminal illness can be granted a GRC via statutory declaration - either by themselves or by their next of kin if they have died - rather than the current process requiring documentary proof of two years proof of ‘living in your acquired gender’, plus the requirement to be 18 and over.”
He added: “What inspired it - I mean obviously the tragic loss of Brianna Ghey. I felt something needed to be done, and this felt achievable - it is a small change that meets an obvious need and patches an obvious hole in the law. Ultimately nothing any of us can do can bring Brianna or any of those we have lost back. The least we can do is ensure trans folks can be recognised in death as who they were in life.”
The petition, which is close to 5,000 signatures at the time of writing, can be signed online.
A trial date for two teenagers, both 15, who are accused of Brianna’s murder has been set for July 10 and is estimated to last three weeks.
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