Party split as SNP reveals gender plans
AN SNP minister has hit out at transphobic abuse surfacing during discussions on making it easier for people to change gender.
Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville spoke as the Scottish Government yesterday published a public consultation on plans to let people ‘self-identify’.
She said it was ‘not acceptable’ for participants to suffer transphobic or misogynistic abuse.
The issue has divided the SNP after feminist groups within the party were criticised for raising fears over men self-identifying as women to access female-only spaces such as changing rooms.
In a foreword to her Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, the minister said: ‘The reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 we propose were consulted on in 2017-18. We received over 15,500 responses with the majority showing support for reform.
‘Since that consultation, the debate on gender recognition has become polarised, both in Scotland and elsewhere.’
She added: ‘I recognise that people have concerns and I hope this consultation will alleviate those by explaining exactly what the Scottish Government is proposing.
‘Just as important is to state what we are not proposing to introduce or to change.’
The Scottish Government believes the system for obtaining a gender recognition certificate, which includes a requirement to give evidence of having lived in the new gender for two
‘All opinions given respect’
years, is ‘demeaning, lengthy, stressful and expensive’.
The new draft Bill aims to remove barriers for an individual to secure the legal recognition of their gender identity.
Other proposed changes include removing the requirement of having to provide medical evidence of a diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’ and reducing the period of having lived in the new gender to six months.
Ministers Kate Forbes, Ash Denham and Ivan McKee, as well as MSP Joan McAlpine and MP Joanna Cherry, are among those to have questioned whether or not men with a history of violence against women could change gender and access female-only spaces. However, the consultation documents say there is a lack of any evidence to support this claim.
Chris McEleny, an SNP councillor on Inverclyde Council, said a potential threat came from ‘predatory men that may seek to abuse single-sex spaces if self-ID is implemented’.
He added: ‘This is a real, genuine concern many women have raised with me.’
Lynn Welsh of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland said the Bill would ‘remove unnecessary practical barriers’ trans people face.
She added: ‘Nothing in the Bill will threaten the continued operation of the Equality Act provisions protecting womenonly services and spaces, which recognise the particular needs of women and the need for protection from sex-based violence.’
The SNP Women’s Pledge campaign said: ‘It is important that all opinions are treated with respect and that women have the right to be heard without being shouted down and silenced.’