by GINA DAVIDSON

A campaign against the Scottish Government's proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act was launched by a new LGB organisation today, as Nicola Sturgeon was challenged on the issue of transwomen being placed in female prisons.

The LGB Alliance, which was set up last year by a group of lesbian, gay and bisexual equality campaigners, says it is concerned about the impact of the reforms which it claims promote a "gender free-for-all" and want the Bill withdrawn.

The organisation is launching full page adverts in Scottish newspapers tomorrow as part of its campaign, and has been backed by two new women's groups ForWomen Scotland and Women Make Glasgow, who both also object to the proposals.

The Scottish Government has launched a second consultation on its proposals which would give trans people the ability to request a Gender Recognition Certificate - which changes their birth certificate and their "legal sex" - without requiring a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, without having to live in their "acquired gender" for two years, reducing it to three months, and to lower the age that a GRC can be applied for to 16.

Equalities Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville, who is spearheading the government's plans, has said that she believes women's rights would be unaffected by the changes, in particular those which relate to having single-sex spaces such as changing rooms, refuges and women's prisons. She says the changes are necessary as those who wish to apply for a GRC find the current system "traumatic and demeaning". Read more via Scotsman