Gender Bill a threat to women, says top SNP MP
GENDER reform legislation ‘poses a threat to women’ and should be scrapped, a top Nationalist MP has said.
Breaking ranks with his party, the SNP’s Angus MacNeil criticised the new law, which he claims will allow men to ‘invade women’s safe spaces’.
Self-declaration has replaced the requirement for a medical diagnosis, the age limit has been slashed from 18 to 16 and most people will have to live in their new gender for only three months before obtaining an official certificate confirming the change.
But critics warn that the plans could be exploited by predatory men seeking access to women using female-only spaces and services.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs the current system of medical diagnoses was ‘intrusive, traumatic and dehumanising’ and that she would ‘never apologise for trying to spread equality’.
But the reforms sparked the SNP’s largest rebellion since the party came to power at Holyrood, with nine MSPs voting against the Bill.
Mr MacNeil has now joined those opposing the reforms.
The Western Isles MP said: ‘Trans people deserve respect and dignity but this legislation is not about that. It poses a threat to women, especially those who are vulnerable, in safe spaces, and that is clearly wrong.’
He said that legislation which allows ‘bad faith actors’ to pretend to be transgender to gain access to women’s safe spaces is wrong.
He added: ‘This is a problem made in Scotland and should be sorted in Scotland. It should be withdrawn and scrapped.’
Westminster has not ruled out mounting a legal challenge, with Scottish Secretary Alister Jack saying the UK Government ‘shares the concerns that many people have regarding certain aspects of this Bill and in particular the safety issues for women and children’.
Under UK law, Westminster can apply to have Scottish laws struck down by arguing they would conflict with UK-wide equalities law. This power has never been used.
The reforms were backed by most SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green MSPs but opposed by the majority of Conservatives.
Nationalist MSP Ash Regan, who resigned as a minister to vote against the law, said she was ‘ashamed’ of the parliament,
But one of only three Tories to support the Bill, Jamie Greene, said in the final debate that he was proud to have chosen ‘the side of history that made another human being’s life better.’
‘Legislation poses a threat to women’
OPPOSITION to Nicola Sturgeon’s gender law continues to grow, including within her own party. Angus MacNeil, veteran Nationalist MP for the Western Isles, has called for the Gender Recognition Reform Bill to be ‘withdrawn and scrapped’.
The legislation removes key safeguards from the process a person must undergo to have the law recognise their ‘gender identity’ rather than their biological sex. The Bill banishes doctors and other medical experts from the process, cuts the waiting period from two years to six months and lowers the minimum age from 18 to 16.
Supporters of the Bill say it will make life easier for trans people. However, its abandoning of medical diagnosis in favour of self-declaration has led opponents to warn it will undermine women’s rights and could be exploited by predators.
Mr MacNeil insists he respects the rights of trans people and says his concerns are limited to ‘bad-faith actors’ who would ‘pretend to be trans to gain access to women’s safe spaces’. In voicing his fears, he joins a coalition opposed to the Bill, including JK Rowling, the Scottish Tories and feminist campaigners. The UK Government is considering a legal challenge.
If Nicola Sturgeon will not listen to her opponents, she should listen to one of her own and reconsider this unpopular, unwanted and potentially dangerous Bill.