The reform in Scotland has been criticized by J.K. Rowling and human rights commissioners
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The Scottish government has successfully pushed through a new piece of gender legislation, prompting the resignation of the country’s community safety minister. The bill had been brought forward by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP).
The Gender Recognition Reform bill, which passed its first stage in parliament on Thursday, aims to make it easier for people to officially change their gender by removing the requirement for any kind of medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. It also reduces the length of time an applicant needs to live with an acquired gender from two years to three months, and lowers the permitted age from 18 to 16.
The SNP’s community safety minister, Ash Regan, resigned shortly before a vote on the legislation took place. She explained that, after considering the issue of gender recognition “very carefully,” her “conscience” would not allow her to vote with the Scottish government for the bill.
Regan said she was “not against reform per se,” but stressed that she could not support measures that may have “negative implications for the safety and dignity of women and girls,” as quoted by the British media.
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After accepting her minister’s resignation, Sturgeon revealed that Regan had “at no stage” approached her to raise any concerns ahead of the vote. Nevertheless, she concluded that if a minister was unable to support the government, “it is the case that the only options available are resignation ahead of the vote or dismissal thereafter.”
Earlier this year, the state-funded Equality and Human Rights Commission suggested that “more detailed consideration is needed” before moving ahead with gender recognition reform. Concerns noted by chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner included “those relating to the collection and use of data, participation and drug testing in competitive sport, measures to address barriers facing women and practices within the criminal justice system.”
Among those publicly opposed to the bill is Harry Potter author and self-proclaimed feminist J.K. Rowling, who lives in Scotland. Earlier this month, she personally accused Sturgeon of “riding roughshod” over women’s rights with the gender legislation. The author insisted that the first minister should be held personally responsible “if any woman or girl suffers voyeurism, sexual harassment, assault or rape in consequence of the Scottish government’s lax new rules.”
