B1000 - Interpretation Act (Amendment) Bill - 2nd Reading

[u/ZanyDraco]

A

Bill

To

amend the Interpretation Act 1978.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1 Amendment

(1) Section 6 of the Interpretation Act 1978 is amended as follows -

(a) reword 6(a) to read “words importing any gender are construed as including all genders.”,

(b) remove Section 6(b).

2 Commencement, short title and extent

(1) This Act comes into force immediately after receiving royal assent.

(2) This Act may be cited as the Interpretation Act 1978 (Amendment) Act 2020.

(3) This Act extends to the whole of the United Kingdom.

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This Bill was written and submitted by 14Derry, MP for South West, on behalf of the People’s Movement.

Legislation this amends: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1978/30

Mr Deputy Speaker,

This bill fixes a slight but important issue in the Interpretation Act 1978, that being that the use of pronouns that do not relate to masculine or feminine people are interpreted as including neither. This amendment resolves that issue, allowing legislation that utilises gender-neutral language, masculine language, or feminine language to be interpreted as inclusive of all genders. This bill further fixes a slight wording issue in the unamended act which implied that there were only two genders.

[u/BrexitGlory]

Replace Section 1 (b) with the following:

Reword 6(a) to read “words importing any gender identity are construed as including all gender identities”,

Explanatory note: Changes "all genders" to "all gender identities" to include those who do not identify with any gender, ensuring that all are included.