The UK Court of Appeal has agreed to hear my case, but it's going to be between six and nine months before I'm back in court.

Meanwhile, please share the word about what I'm doing!

“Permission to appeal” was filed with the Court of Appeal on Monday.

The High Court disregarded some well established legal precedents in the ruling, and failed to provide justification for several key points.

We’re now waiting for the Court of Appeal to agree to hear the case.

We’re appealing. The ruling said that I’m being discriminated against, but it’s okay because it would be too hard for the government to treat nonbinary people with dignity and respect.

My lawyers are filing to appeal. Meanwhile, the bills are piling up.

My most recent bill was for a little over £60k. The government’s seeking nearly £100k, except they filed the paperwork late so a judge ruled we can argue about their itemized bill.

What really infuriates me is that nobody I sued even presented a defense. The defendants were the Gender Recognition Panel, which declined to participate, and the Secretary of State for Justice.

Instead, the openly anti-LGBTQ+ Minister of Women and Equalities, Kemi Badenoch, had herself substituted as defendant. At no point was any argument made that giving me legal gender recognition would in any way harm women or equality.

To quote Star Trek's Captain Picard, “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose.”.

Despite our fantastically presented case and the court rejecting many of the government’s arguments, they still ruled against us. We are pursuing an appeal.

In the end, it came down to essentially two points:

• Despite the text of the law having no such limitation, the court interpreted the “foreign route” of the Gender Recognition Act to be restricted to binary gender only.
• The court ruled that, while the government’s failure to grant legal recognition to nonbinary people is discriminatory, this discrimination is justified as a matter of “administrative convenience”.

On both of this points we feel that there is a realistic prospect of the Court of Appeal reaching a different view.

Last week, a draft order removing California, 24 other US states (+DC), 25 countries, and 4 Australian states and territories from the GRA’s “approved countries and territories” list was published by the UK government.

It includes the following wording: “If the country or territory includes options for recognition of non-binary genders, but otherwise meets the criteria it may be retained or added to the list, but noting nonbinary people could only apply for a binary identity on their UK GRC.”

Hmm, I wonder why that’s there? It seems to me that if the GRA really were binary as they claim, there’d be no need to specify this. Very interesting, though all this really means is that they think there’s a chance they could lose.

My lawyers have contacted the government to delay finalizing the draft order until the judgement in my case is made.

The case was heard at the High Court of Justice in London on Wednesday, 1st November. It was deemed important and/or complex enough that we had two judges sitting the case. I attended in person with my team, in part so that the judges could see an actual person this is affecting.

My barrister, Chris Buttler KC, did an absolutely fantastic job arguing my case. His arguments were all very well researched. Sir James Eadie KC represented the government. Thanks to extensive (and expensive) preparation, we were able to have anticipated all of his arguments, and had responses ready to go.

It’s amazing that I’ve raised over £70,000 from over 370 generous people, but I still need almost £80,000 more. On top of this, I’ve already directly paid about £50,000 of my own money.

Nonbinary people have asked the government for legal recognition several times, but they keep kicking the can down the road. It’s my hope that when the ruling comes, they’ll find that the can has been filled with cement.

Please share and donate if you can.

I just reviewed the draft skeleton argument from my team, which is due to be filed tomorrow. It seems very strong, and I'm feeling great about the case.

A skeleton argument is essentially a summary of the case the barrister intends to present in court, and needs to be filed in advance.

I have been learning far more than I ever wanted to know about legal procedures in the UK, but with your help it can all be worth it.

The funding goal has been updated to £164,000. That breaks down to £99,000 to cover work already billed, and £65,000 in estimated costs for taking the case to trial on 1st November.

I've already paid approximately £20,000 out of my own pocket towards this case, and I'm responsible for covering anything this campaign doesn't. As it stands, the gap is nearly £100,000. That figure is terrifying, and I really need your help.

Every share on social media helps.

If you have an LGBTQ+ group at your company, please share there.

If you know any journalists who might be interested in writing about me and my case, I'd be happy to do interviews.

-Ryan

I got a call from my team today, they've filed evidence to rebut the stuff the government said. Not sure how much detail I can share.

The court date is 1 November.

I spoke with my legal team on Friday, we have a court date scheduled! It will be 1 November 2023.

I have been fighting to have my “phenotypic sex” corrected on my UK medical records since last August, as several of my non-binary friends have already done.

PCSE (operated by Capita, a private contractor) manages these records, officially refused to do this for me in February. I promptly complained to NHS England, which is part of the UK government.

NHS England sided with me, insisting that PCSE act on my request immediately, and clarify their policies so that nobody else will be denied.

This means that, technically, part of the UK government now officially recognizes my gender. I don’t know whether this will matter for my legal case, but it is extremely satisfying.

Leigh Day has posted a press release about my case being granted permission for judicial review.

https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/2023-news/nonbinary-us-citizen-granted-permission-for-judicial-review-of-uk-legal-recognition-policy/

I've just gotten off a call with my team. My lead barrister says we're clearly in the right under the letter of the law. We have permission to take the case forward on two grounds, and will be able to present our arguments on two other grounds. They've walked me through their arguments.

There is still a difficult fight ahead of us, but we can win this!

Meanwhile, we need another £45k to cover costs already incurred in my case.

I'm very grateful for the nearly £15k that's already been raised, but this is a complicated, expensive case.

The Minister for Women and Equalities herself, Kemi Badenoch has intervened in my case to take over as defendant. She has a history of anti-LGBT bigotry, and has admitted to hacking onto the website of a political opponent. All I'm asking for is a piece of paper that will give me legal clarity, but she's tasked Sir James Eadie KC, the governments best barrister, with opposing me.

Your contributions, and especially your supportive comments, mean the world to me. Please pitch in or share my case.

Things are progressing, but we still need your help to fund this case.

I got an interesting update from my lawyers last Friday, but apparently Civil Procedure Rule 31.22 says I'm not allowed to post or quote from documents provided by the government until they're referenced in court.

There is some collaboration between me and my team on strategy for this case. That's a bit of a given, since the core claim is essentially my argument. Beyond that, we go over the details, I ask questions, including some "what if"s, and then... we do what they think is best. Even when I don't like it.

Unfortunately, this means I have some things I have to sit on.

The case is moving forward, but that doesn't mean money isn't still needed. If anything, your contributions now mean more than ever.

Next steps from here:

1.  7 April 2023: my pleadings will be amended to deal with the government's "a person of either gender may apply" argument;
2. 14 April 2023: the GRP shall disclose any GRC it has granted me;
3. 5 May 2023: the Minister will file her defence to my claim and proposed directions;
4. 12 May 2023: we will file our proposed directions;
5. Mostyn will thereafter consider whether to grant my judicial review and GRA appeal permission to proceed (the Part 8 claim has been stayed pending determination of my JR and appeal).

-Ryan

Firstly, I want to thank you all so much for your contributions! This case is very important to me, and it means a lot that you're pitching in!

I know the fundraising goal looks astronomical, but from the beginning I expected strong opposition, and chose representation accordingly. It's a good thing too, because the government has put their top barrister, James Eadie KC, on the case.

My team isn't concerned - if anything this shows just how strong my case is - and more importantly the directions hearing today went well! My case is being allowed to move forward to the next stage!

I'm still waiting on a detailed report from my lawyers, but I will be sure to share another update when I get it.

Please, share about my case and encourage your friends to contribute!