From the start, the Scottish Government has avoided being pinned down on the effect of a GRC under the Equality Act. It has taken legal action to force it to come clean on its position. Even then, it has tried…
Read More MBM statement on the ruling in For Women Scotland vs the Scottish Ministers
The BBC recently reported that the UK Government may not recognise Gender Recognition Certificates (GRC) issued under the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, when passed. This would mean for example, that a GRC applicant in Scotland who was born in…
MBM letter to Ian Duddy, Chair, Scottish Human Rights Commission
Outcry at failure to end mixed sex hospital wardsALMOST nine months after the Scottish Executive promised there would be no mixed sex wards in hospitals it emerged yesterday that there are still 34 wards where male and female patients are…
Read More The erosion of single-sex hospital accommodation in Scotland
At Stage 2 of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, the Scottish Government accepted that attaching a criminal offence to making a false declaration is not a watertight deterrent against abuse of the process. The government has introduced further limited…
Read More How strong are the Scottish Government safeguarding amendments?
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…
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
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
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
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…
