UK: This is what women’s groups really think about reforming Scotland’s gender recognition laws

by VIC PARSONS 

Women’s organisations across Scotland strongly back reforming gender recognition laws. The Scottish government’s public consultation on the Gender Recognition Bill closes in three days.

The draft bill outlines reforms to gender recognition laws that will streamline and modernise the process by which trans people can update the gender on their birth certificates – a right the trans community in the UK has had since 2004.

Despite claims from a small group of online “gender critical” activists that women are being silenced in the conversation around potential reforms, women’s organisations across Scotland have already had their say on the proposed changes – and they strongly support reforming Scotland’s gender recognition laws. Women’s groups responded positively to Scotland’s first public consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), which was open from 9 November 2017 to 1 March 2018.

There were 15,697 responses, and 60 per cent of people who responded – rising to 65 per cent of people based in Scotland – said they backed plans to introduce a self-declaratory system for legal gender recognition.

Women’s organisations in Scotland, including Close the Gap, Engender, Equate Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid, Women 50:50 and Zero Tolerance, released a joint statement supporting a self-declaratory system for legal gender recognition in response to the consultation. Read more via PinkNews