Let kids aged 12 swap gender without parents’ consent, urges charity
CHILDREN as young as 12 should be able to legally change their gender without their parents’ consent, a taxpayer-funded charity has said.
Children in Scotland (CIS) said allowing pre-teens to obtain gender recognition certificates could prove ‘extremely beneficial’ and would help to ‘normalise trans identities’.
The charity receives around £1million a year in Scottish Government funding.
Under Scottish Government plans, the legal age at which someone can change gender is to be reduced from 18 to 16.
However, CIS described the move as only ‘a positive first step’ and said children had ‘considerations about their gender identity’ at a younger age. In a response to a Scottish Government consultation, CIS said ‘consideration should be given to lowering this further to 12’, arguing the ‘opportunity’ could be ‘potentially extremely beneficial for trans young people’.
It added: ‘Lowering the age at which people have the opportunity to apply for a gender recognition certificate to 12 would ensure that far more children and young people are able to undergo this process, should they wish to.
‘Parents provide a vital support to children and have a key role to play in this process for their children. However, we do not believe they should have a final say on whether their child can apply to have their lived gender legally recognised.’
The Scottish Green Party, now in a power-sharing pact with the SNP, said it was ‘open to including those under 16 with parental consent’.
But the For Women Scotland campaign group said there was growing evidence that gender identities in children often changed over time.
It emerged on Sunday that dozens of 16 and 17-year-olds have been assessed for double mastectomies on the NHS in Scotland, raising fears that the legal changes would lead to more young people accessing irreversible surgery.
For Women Scotland spokesman
Trina Budge said: ‘We think our 12year-olds deserve better. It is a once-in-a-lifetime decision to change the sex recorded on your birth certificate, with no legal process to reverse it. We have a responsibility to protect children from irreversible decisions.’
Under the legal overhaul, people would also be able to self-declare their own gender, rather than having to undergo medical assessments. The length of time required to live as a male or female before legal recognition would be slashed from two years to three months.
Advocates of the changes, including Nicola Sturgeon, say the moves are intended to support a marginalised minority group.
Opponents say they would redefine what it means to be female and could potentially expose women to risk by opening up single-sex spaces to male-bodied individuals.
The Scottish Government said it is ‘committed to making necessary changes to the Gender Recognition Act to improve and simplify the process by which a trans person can obtain legal recognition’.
Last night CIS chief executive Judith Turbyne told the Mail: ‘We recognise that capacity to make decisions is an evolving process and believe that consideration should be given to bringing the Gender Recognition Bill in line with other areas of Scots law.
‘We also recognise the importance of support being available for trans young people and their families going through this process.’
‘Irreversible decisions’