The Gender Recognition Reform Bill in Scotland, which would allow individuals to change the sex on their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, has now been published.
The Scottish Government’s stated aim is to streamline the process allowing transgender people to self-identify in a less invasive way. The current requirement for evidence that an applicant has lived in their acquired gender for at least two years will be reduced to six months and the lower age limit cut to 16 instead of 18 years.
However, Kate Forbes MSP, the SNP’s finance secretary and a Christian – who has been tipped as a possible future First Minister – said her party’s approach to law reform on the issue was so flawed as to risk creating ‘bad law’. She said many Scots feel ‘disenfranchised’ from the discussion.
