Gender self-id should be followed by physical transformation and certification

One can certainly agree with Susan Dalgety’s condemnation of Lisa Nandy’s views that “trans women” criminals are entitled to be placed in women’s prisons, even where the crime was rape or murder and was committed when the perpetratorself-identifiedasa man, if the perpetrator “then identifiesasfemale”andmoreover that the crime should also be officially recorded as committed by a woman.

While not specifically stated, it is implied that the foregoing applies even if the perpetrator now self-identifying as female still has a penis in full working order (as is the case in some recent jail incidents).

But Ms Dalgety (“Why counting dead women is a necessary task”, Saturday, 22 February 2) and others of her thinking also bear some blame for this situation. She writes “so far, so uncontroversial” to Ms Nandy’s assertion “I believe fundamentally in people’s right to self-id.”

That “right” is by no means uncontroversial; many credible commentators and experienced professionals, and indeed ordinary citizens believe that self-id over a sensible timeframe rather longer than a few months must be followed up by physical transformation and medical certification.

Likewise, when increasing medical evidence indicates we reach fully-mature adulthood only in our mid-twenties, it is surely unwise to permit and even encourage teenage children to make such life-changing and probably irreversible decisions on their own.

It would be interesting to hear the opinion on the current debate’s zealots of Jan (formerly James) Morris, now 93, who was the Times correspondent on the 1953 Everest Expedition, transitioned from 1964-72 and was probably the first “trans” many of us who followed her story then with sympathetic interest and admiration had heard of.

JOHN BIRKETT Horseleys Park, St Andrews

The SNP are busy changing the laws, and of course change can be good. But sadly in this case the changes seem to be very dark indeed.

Firstly, we learn that some prisoners, foreign citizens and refugees have secured the right to vote in Scottish elections under “historic” legislation passed recently. Good, you may say? Well, no. Surely you should have to live in a country, learn about the country and obey the rules/laws of the country before you are a suitable person to decide on the future of the country?

Then we have the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill to be passed before the election being whizzed through and allowing our 16-years- olds – you know, the kids still growing, developing, banging doors, hormones in disarray –being allowed to change gender!

We have to wonder what the SNP’S ultimate aim is: is it simply for independence or is it to change the face of Scotland forever?

It is quite concerning that with so much to do to improve our damaged services we have the SNP turn their eyes away and look to making changes that will impact on us all, but we have no say.

PAULINE EGGERMONT Drummond Place, Inverness