Row over tension between women’s and trans rights divides Scottish Labour
by Gina Davidson, The Scotsman:
Hundreds of Labour Party activists and supporters – including three Scottish MSPs – have signed a declaration on women’s sex-based rights, just a day after a group of Scottish Labour women wrote to Richard Leonard raising concerns about how the party was supporting transgender people.
The declaration, which is similar to the Women’s Pledge launched by SNP politicians and members last month, is in response to growing concerns that women’s rights could be eroded by changes being proposed to the Gender Recognition Act, the law which allows transgender people to change their birth certificates.
The proposals would remove the requirement to have a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria – the feeling that you are a different gender to your biological sex – and to have lived in your preferred gender for two years.
Instead, transgender people could “self-declare” their gender to gain a Gender Recognition Certificate – a move many believe could be exploited by predatory men and could have a detrimental effect on women’s sex-based rights, particularly the right to single-sex facilities such as hospital wards, toilets and changing rooms and also services for survivors of domestic violence and rape.
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