Legislating for hatred against women: the view from the coalface (December 2020)

This blog may be accessed as a briefing here The omission of ‘sex’ as a protected characteristic is a key area of contention in the proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, which is currently making its way through…

Supplementary evidence on the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill (November 2020)

We have submitted supplementary evidence to the Justice Committee in the light of (a) an open letter currently circulating which has been signed by a number of parliamentarians and others (b) the Cabinet Secretary’s comments at the Justice Committee hearing…

The Scottish Parliament’s bill process and the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill

This is a post setting out how the Scottish Parliament handles government bills, and what that means for the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. A Bill is the draft form of an act of parliament. An Act of…

GRA Reform: Meeting with Scottish Government officials 9 March 2020

On what now seems like a lifetime ago, 9 March, we met officials from the Scottish Government to discuss the consultation on the draft Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Our meeting was with a senior official responsible for this area and…

MBM submission to the 2019 Scottish GRA reform consultation

We have submitted our response to the Scottish Government's consultation on on GRA reform. Our full consultation response is here: Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: MurrayBlackburnMackenzieconsultation response We do not support the Scottish Government proposal for statutory self-declaration for a…

Scottish GRA reform proposals: UK-wide effects

This blog looks at the potential UK wide effects of gender recognition reform in Scotland. Although the Scottish Government's consultation paper does not include a specific discussion of the cross-border implications, the provisions in the draft Bill suggest that a…

Losing Sight of Women’s Rights (Scottish Affairs vol. 28 3)

This post brings together material relating to Losing Sight of Women’s Rights: the unregulated introduction of gender self-identification as a case study of policy capture in Scotland, available here (open access) in Scottish Affairs Vol 28 (3). Authors’ statementWe share the view of Professors…