2016 Holyrood election party manifesto commitments on GRA reform
Scottish Conservatives
“The evidence from the Law Society of Scotland and others on several areas of law reform is compelling. As the Parliament matures, there is a need for continuous review of legislation passed over past sessions. We agree that Scottish Law Commission reports should be taken forward at the earliest opportunity. Their present work on defamation is of particular interest and we will work with the Scottish Government in line with the SLC’s recommendations. Other areas that we believe require review are Family Law as well as the Gender Recognition Act.”
Scottish Conservative Manifesto 2016
Scottish Liberal Democrats:*
“Reform the Gender Recognition Act to bring it into line with international good practice in recognising the gender identity of trans people, including consideration of the medical requirements placed on applicants, and recognise the gender identity of non binary people.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2016
Scottish Labour*
“We will ensure that Scotland’s transgender communities gain new rights. A Scottish Labour Government will change the law to provide legal recognition for people who do not identify as men or women and remove the psychiatric diagnosis requirement from legal gender recognition process. Scotland’s young people who wish to seek legal recognition of the gender they live would be entitled to do so from the age of 16 under Scottish Labour.”
Scottish Labour Manifesto 2016
Scottish Green Party
“We will push for access to appropriate healthcare for trans people, including specialist treatment and advice as part of transitioning and we will push for access to treatment within 18 weeks, in line with NHS standards for other services. Green MSPs will call for a ban on unjustified medical interventions that seek to forcibly alter a person’s sexual characteristics or to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTI+ people. This would include medically unnecessary surgery on intersex minors and so called ‘conversion therapy’.”
“There must be equality before the law regardless of gender, gender identity or sexual orientation. We will back the campaign to reform gender recognition law in line with international best practice.”
Scottish Green Party Manifesto 2016
Scottish National Party
“A distinctive part of our equal marriage law was our more progressive approach to Transgender recognition which allows married transgender people to obtain a full Gender Recognition Certificate, and stay married. We must now build on this to help end discrimination. We will review and reform gender recognition law, so it’s in line with international best practice for people who are Transgender or Intersex.”
“And we will build on and improve the standalone protocol that’s been developed in Scotland for people seeking gender reassignment, which has provided a clearer and consistent treatment pathway that is equitable, effective, and patient-focussed.”
Scottish National Party Manifesto 2016
* We have been unable to find links to PDFs of the manifestos on the party websites so are linking to third party websites. If anyone can direct us to a link to the PDF of each manifesto on the party websites, please get in touch via our Contact form.