What is Scotland’s new gender recognition Bill, that the UK govt might block?

After passing the landmark bill, which made Scotland the first part of the UK to introduce a self-identification system for people who want to change their gender, on December 22, the Scottish parliament called it “a historic day for equality”.

What is the new gender recognition law?

The law brings sweeping reforms to the system through which people obtain their gender recognition certificate (GRC).

Currently, they have to apply to a UK gender recognition panel and must present two medical reports, including a psychiatric diagnosis of gender dysphoria and another listing any treatment or surgery they may have had to change their sexual characteristics. Applicants should also have been permanently living in their acquired gender for at least two years before applying for the GRC.

According to the Scottish government, the present system “has an adverse impact on people applying for gender recognition”. It also adds the process of getting the GRC can be “demeaning, intrusive, distressing and stressful”.

Under the new gender recognition law, applications will be made to the Registrar General for Scotland instead of the UK panel. It also removes the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and extends the application process to 16 and 17-year-olds for the first time.

The new self-identification system requires people to have lived in the acquired gender for at least three months before applying and six months for those who are under 18. It also provides a three month reflection period to the applicant before a certificate is issued.

What is the controversy regarding the law?

Opponents of the law claim that the reforms could undermine the rights that women secured after decades of struggle. They also fear that abusive males could use the new system to threaten the security of women.

Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women, told members of the Scottish parliament’s equalities committee that introducing gender self-identification might lead to violent men taking advantage of loopholes “to get into women’s spaces and have access to women”.

Meanwhile, author JK Rowling who has been a longstanding opponent of trans rights, said that “erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives” and the Scottish government’s reforms had “triggered” her. In October this year, she even posted a selfie on Twitter while wearing a T-shirt calling Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, a “destroyer of women’s rights”.

The Scottish conservative leaders have also accused the government of rushing the passage of the law and not discussing the reforms in greater detail. According to a report published by The Guardian, Rachael Hamilton, a Scottish Conservative Party politician, told Social Justice Secretary Robison that her party doesn’t have the support of the people of Scotland regarding the new law and is “in the rush to make the process a little easier for trans people, the government is making it easier for criminal men to attack women”.

Transphobic criticism?

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has accused many of using the issue to spread transphobia. Sturgeon, who described herself as a “lifelong feminist”, said, “Trans rights are not in competition with women’s rights and, as so often before, we can improve things for everyone when those discriminated against act as allies not opponents”, The Guardian reported.

The primary criticism of the law is that women’s rights can be at odds with trans rights and that using such laws, abusive men will infiltrate women’s spaces. On the surface, there is no evidence to back these claims. For instance, in countries where gender self-identification has been legalised, including Norway, Malta and the Republic of Ireland, no increase in attacks on women and girls in single-gender spaces has been reported since the law was introduced.

According to Dr Ash Brockwell, activist and transmasculine academic at the London Interdisciplinary School, “In turning on the trans community, are a minority of self-styled feminists being misled by a patriarchal ‘divide-and-conquer’ strategy?”

As the work of black feminist Barbara Smith and the Combahee River Collective suggests, centering the most marginalised voices is necessary for any liberatory agenda. Trans people remain among the most marginalised and vulnerable, facing micro and macro-aggressions from childhood.