In the future, in a world not unlike The Culture, gender transitions are absolute. Biological science has advanced to the point at which they can re-program your entire body, even editing your chromosomes. Of course you do still want to be the same person, so the brain structure is not changed. Only the cell internals are edited, not the connections. Your skills and memories will still be intact.
On a planet called Greer they have invented a psychometric test designed to detect memories of having lived in a gender other than that which your body currently manifests. It is the only known way of telling if someone is trans or not. It is known as the Raymond-Bindel test. The people of Greer employ an elite cadre of assassins whose job it is to use this test to hunt down trans people and kill them.
They do not call this execution.
They call it, “a cure”.
Whoa – powerful stuff!
If I can be so bold, I think it would be improved by removing the reference to “The Culture” in the first line. I think the reference to Banks’ work only weakens this story, as if implying it’s not strong enough to stand on its own, which I definitely think it is.