MBM letter to Ian Duddy, Chair, Scottish Human Rights Commission
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Letter to Shona Robison on women’s ability to set boundaries based on sex
Yesterday we joined 28 other individuals and organisations, including many with backgrounds in campaigning on women’s rights and delivering services for women who have experienced male violence, in writing to the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Reem Alsalem,…
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The erosion of single-sex hospital accommodation in Scotland
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…
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How strong are the Scottish Government safeguarding amendments?
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…
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‘There’s no evidence’: a titanic error
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…
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…
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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…
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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