This blog considers a statement made by the Director of Stonewall Scotland on 28 November in which he suggested questions for MSPs considering the current Gender Recognition Reform Bill. He makes an argument that is being used more widely to…
Month: November 2022
Lisa Mackenzie: speech at rally outside HMP Cornton Vale, 26 November 2022
In April 2012, I began a new job working for the Howard League for Penal Reform. In my first week, I attended the launch of the report of the Commission on Women Offenders, led by Dame Elish Angiolini. The report…
Read More Lisa Mackenzie: speech at rally outside HMP Cornton Vale, 26 November 2022
Passport control: checking the argument for self-declared gender recognition certificates
At Stage 2 of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill Scottish Labour MSP Michael Marra lodged two amendments that sought to align the process for obtaining a gender recognition certificate (GRC) more closely with that for passports, by requiring a…
Read More Passport control: checking the argument for self-declared gender recognition certificates
Women, sex and the Equality Network: lifting the fig leaf
Discussion on the relationship between the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and the Equality Act has largely focused on the law as it is. This blog looks instead at what one of Scotland’s leading trans advocacy organisations – which has…
Read More Women, sex and the Equality Network: lifting the fig leaf
Statutory declarations and even muddier waters
In rebutting criticism of its proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004 the Scottish Government has placed considerable weight on the provision that requires applicants to make a statutory declaration confirming their intention to permanently live in their ‘acquired…
Setting the minimum age for a GRC: a question of responsibility
One of the most contested issues in relation to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill concerns the proposal to lower the minimum age for acquiring a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) from 18 to 16 years, based on a statutory declaration,…
Read More Setting the minimum age for a GRC: a question of responsibility