FIRST Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon’s controversial proposal to let individuals choose their legal gender in Scotland runs the danger of “confusion” over their status in the rest of the UK and the services they are eligible for, warned the UK equalities watchdog, Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
EHRC sent letters to the Scottish and British governments outlining possible instances of cross-border “uncertainty.”
The watchdog warned that regardless of whether the UK Government recognised Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) issued in Scotland under the new system, there would be “implications for the functioning of the Equality Act,” which forbids sex discrimination.
Similarly, it stated that trans persons might have challenges with their “legal status and rights” if they were able to acquire a Scottish GRC while having resided abroad in the UK but were born north of the border.
Before enacting this law, the watchdog asked the UK and Scottish governments to “work constructively together” to attempt to tackle the plethora of possible cross-border issues.
It also noted that unless they demand to see a GRC or birth certificate, which might be “intrusive or offensive,” employers and “service providers” in England and Wales will have difficulty ascertaining a Scottish person’s legal gender.
EHRC had previously said it may affect “actions to reduce barriers confronting women,” but SNP ministers persisted with the Bill, claiming the current approach found the proper balance.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of EHRC expressed additional reservations about the revisions in a letter to Shona Robison, the SNP’s equalities secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the other devolved administrations.
A Holyrood committee tasked with reviewing the Scottish government’s gender recognition reform bill has endorsed the fundamental ideas for streamlining the process by which transgender persons can amend their birth certificates, including the addition of self-declaration.
The report was released a day after the Equality and Human Rights Commission expressed concerns about the bill’s cross-border effects and raised the possibility that the Westminster government would refuse to recognise the new Scottish certificates throughout the rest of the UK.
The Bill’s first Holyrood discussion is set for October 27. Scots aged 16 and older would be able to self-identify as the gender of their choice without a gender dysphoria diagnosis from a doctor.
Additionally, it would reduce the two-year requirement for a person to live as their “acquired gender” to just six months.
JK Rowling, an opponent of self-declaration, posted a picture of herself on Twitter wearing a T-shirt that read: “Nicola Sturgeon destroyer of women’s rights” and expressed her support for the protesters as several hundred people gathered outside the Holyrood parliament building to demonstrate against the proposals on Thursday (6) morning.
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