The SNP’s trans-rights folly

There is a significant row brewing within the Scottish National Party over its proposed reforms to the UK-wide Gender Recognition Act.

Under the proposed reforms, it will be considerably easier for an individual to secure legal recognition for their chosen gender identity. This is because the bill proposes: the scrapping of the current requirement for people to apply to the UK Gender Recognition Panel, allowing them to apply to the Registrar General for Scotland instead; the removal of the requirement for applicants to provide medical evidence of their gender-dysphoria diagnosis; and the reduction of the minimum age for applicants from 18 to 16.

The SNP’s advocacy of trans rights is not going down well among some of its MPs and MSPs. Joanna Cherry, the MP for Edinburgh South West, fears that trans rights endanger women-only spaces, from toilets to changing rooms. The MSP Joan McAlpine thinks it could allow people to ‘pick [their] own sex’. And fellow MSP Ruth Maguire reckoned it showed just how far out of step those advocating the proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act were with the SNP mainstream.

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