Sunak Government Threatens to Block Scottish Gender Recognition law

THE GUARDIAN: UK ministers considering ‘nuclear option’ after MSPs overwhelmingly back bill on transgender rights

Nicola Sturgeon during first minister's questions on Thursday before the vote on the gender recognition reform (Scotland) bill. Photograph: Ken Jack/Getty Images
Rishi Sunak’s government is threatening to block a new law that would make Scotland the first part of the UK to introduce a self-identification system for people who want to change gender.

In a significant escalation that brings tensions around transgender rights into the constitutional arena, Westminster made clear it would consider a “nuclear option” of blocking the bill from going for royal assent, a move that would enrage supporters of the changes and nationalists.

The Scottish government pledged to “vigorously contest” any such intervention.

The first minister and SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, called Sunak and his cabinet “democracy deniers” after the supreme court ruled in October that Holyrood could not legally hold another independence referendum without Westminster’s approval. The ruling has resulted in a polling boost for independence over the last month.

The Scottish government hailed what it called “a historic day for equality” after a vote on Thursday afternoon in which MSPs overwhelmingly backed plans to make it easier and less intrusive for individuals to legally change their gender, and to extend the streamlined system for obtaining a gender recognition certificate (GRC) to 16- and 17-year-olds. » | Libby Brooks and Peter Walker | Thursday, December 22, 2022

Related articles here.

My goodness! Don’t we live in interesting times! If Westminster denies the Scots the right to choose their own destiny, then maybe the time has come to cut the umbilical cord. Surely, the Scots will not be able to tolerate Westminster determining their future for them. Surely to do so would be deplorable. – © Mark Alexander

ÜBER DIESE GESCHICHTE AUF DEUTSCH LESEN:

Schottland führt einfache Änderung des Geschlechtseintrags ein: Transmenschen sollen ohne medizinisches Gutachten ihr Geschlecht ändern können. Trotz Protesten unter anderem von J.K. Rowling nahm das schottische Parlament ein entsprechendes Gesetz mit großer Mehrheit an. »

Scotland Passes Bill Making It Easier for People to Legally Change Gender

THE GUARDIAN: MSPs vote in favour of plans to allow people to legally change their gender through system of self-identification

Plans to make it easier and less intrusive for individuals to legally change their gender through a system of self-identification, extending to 16- and 17-year-olds for the first time, will become law in Scotland.

Six years after it was proposed by the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, following two of the largest public consultations in the history of the Scottish parliament and amid an increasingly toxic and polarised political discourse, the bill was passed by MSPs on Thursday in a specially extended session.

As a mark of the escalating tensions surrounding the changes, the debate was disrupted minutes before the final vote by protesters in the public gallery shouted “shame on you” and “this is the darkest day”.

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The gender recognition reform (Scotland) bill removes the need for a psychiatric diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) and extend the application process to 16- and 17-year-olds for the first time. Read the whole article here » | Libby Brooks, Scotland correspondent | Thursday, December 22, 2022

Scotland passes sweeping gender recognition reform in ‘tremendous step forward for trans rights’: Trans people in Scotland will face fewer barriers to legal recognition after the Scottish Parliament voted through its Gender Recognition Reform bill. »