Transgender & Non-Binary Diversity Policy
PBC Ltd. will adhere to Bowls England’s (BE) request for transgender or non-binary persons to be made welcome as club members. PBC Ltd. is committed to creating a safe & welcoming space for everyone. The Company wants all its members to be able to enjoy their bowling without any fear of being harassed; (no member should feel humiliated, offended or degraded for reasons related to their acquired gender.)
PBC’s annual membership renewal forms will ask its members to state whether they either possess or are seeking, a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). (The law requires that any ‘verification of identity‘ applies to all members.) The Gender Recognition Act (GRA) enables transsexual people to change their legal gender by acquiring a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), and to change their birth certificate. The GRC protects transsexual people from sex discrimination as it affirms that their permanent legal gender/sex is no longer the one assigned at birth.
The Company Secretary will advise trans-persons who have or who are applying for a GRC aboutBE’s requirements to enable them to bowl in any competitive bowling, even in intra-club events. BEhas made it mandatory for affiliated clubs to notify BE of those members who wish to be recognized by their acquired gender. Names of those members who have a GRC will be sent to BE during May of each year. BE will record the information and subsequently notify Sussex Bowls as well.
The Company permits a GRC holder to state their present gender, including the pronoun by which they wish to be known by. The Company Secretary will report to BE of any incident reported by the Safeguarding Officer where a club member has not accepted another member’s acquired gender.
Any member possessing a GRC may select which changing room and facilities they would prefer to use in the club-house. This would normally be the facilities appropriate to their acquired gender.
Playing in Competitive Bowls’ events (including local league matches)
A Gender Recognition Certificated (GRC) club member who wishes to play in men’s competitive events must be registered with BE. The GRC member should check with the Company Secretary that they have been, or will be registered with BE before entering competitions. These include all BE competitions and PBC’s own internal club competitions as well as mens’ inter-club league matches.
A ‘GRC’ club member who wishes to play in women’s competitive events in addition to being registered with BE; may need to provide BE prior to their first competitive match with medical attestation that their serum's testosterone levels have been medically measured and are below 10nmol/L. It must then remain below 10nmol/L whilst competing in the women’s category. BE may request to see a record of these levels. These include all BE competitions, even PBC’s own internal club competitions as well as womens’ inter-club league matches.
Bowling in inter-club friendly matches
‘GRC’ club members once registered with BE may participate in friendly inter-club bowls matches. (The requirement to provide serum testosterone levels would not apply.) They must however remain in their designated gender categories for the duration of the summer bowling season.
However a GRC holder is advised that if they do wish to bowl in friendly matches against other local clubs, then their name will be forwarded to the Captain of the other club to avoid any difficulties on the day of the fixture as to which changing room and toilet facilities they will be using. (This applies to both home & away fixtures.)
Acceptance by the Club Membership
Bowls England requires the Club’s SafeGuarding Officer to report to the Company Secretary of any incident whereby they have been advised that a club member has not accepted another member’s acquired gender; either because they ignored the preferred pronoun or that they have not accepted the use of a particular changing room by the GRC holder. The Company Secretary must report these incidents to Bowls England.
Transgender: An umbrella term describing those whose gender is not the same as, nor sits comfortably with, the sex which they were assigned with at birth.
Non-binary: those whose gender identity does not sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’. (These categories include cross-dressers.)
Note: To be protected from gender discrimination in law, it is not necessary for the person to have undergone any medical treatment or surgery in order to change to their preferred gender.