Scotland Tonight on Self-id: featuring GC voices

[CharlieParley]

Earlier this evening, STV broadcast a Scotland Tonight program entirely dedicated to discussing the Scottish Government's proposal to introduce self-id law. It gave much time to critics of the proposal.

Featuring:

Joan McAlpine, Scottish MSP and first UK politician to oppose self-id with a Twitter thread on tithe sex question in the Scottish Census

Lucy Hunter Blackburn, member of the Murray Blackburn Mackenzie Policy Analysis Collective who published a peer-reviewed paper on regulatory capture in Scotland

Seven Hex, a GC transsexual long since banned from Twitter for opposing self-id

Sinead Watson, once a vocal trans rights activist who transitioned medically who detransitioned and now opposes self-id

Marion Calder, a Scottish women's rights campaigner who co-founded For Women Scotland

James Morton, a female transsexual, notorious on Mumsnet for comments made at the We're still here trans rights conference.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scottish minister with responsibility for GRA Reform

Link to program page on STV Player (first episode, only available for a week or so)

player.stv.tv/summary/scotland-tonight

You may have to register to play this.

[armchairactivists]

Brilliant stuff!
Signing up for an account now (seems relatively painless so far)...

[DryHeave]

That was interesting. The drive to remove the diagnosis aspect is curious. All this talk of de-medicalising and yet, without medical treatment... nothing changes?

Honest question: do you need a diagnosis in order to receive hormones, cosmetic surgery, FFS, SRS etc?

[CharlieParley]

AFAIK, if you want it on the NHS, then yes, you need a diagnosis.

[Tombakersscarf]

Thanks for the link. Has started really positively anyway. That poor woman trying to detransition

[NonnyMouse1337]

What exactly does the term 'trans' mean these days?

According to Stonewall, it includes all sorts of people, including cross-dressers.

www.stonewall.org.uk/help-advice/glossary-terms#t

TRANS
An umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth.
Trans people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to) transgender, transsexual, gender-queer (GQ), gender-fluid, non-binary, gender-variant, crossdresser, genderless, agender, nongender, third gender, bi-gender, trans man, trans woman,trans masculine, trans feminine and neutrois.

Trans lobby groups say that gender dysphoria is not a requirement to be trans. Hence the need to remove any sort of medical assessment.

On what grounds are the trans lobby groups also demanding access to various medical and surgical treatments, especially for children?
As DryHeave and CharlieParley mention, surely you need some sort of valid and recognised diagnosis to be able to access hormones, cosmetic and plastic surgeries, and life altering surgeries on sexual and reproductive organs, at least on the NHS. Or are the trans lobby groups implying that trans people should be the only demographic that is allowed access to any and all kinds of medical and surgical procedures without any questions or medical examinations or general caution that applies to other patients?

If being trans is simply an inner feeling and should not to be classed as a mental health issue, why does the trans lobby also say that trans people will kill themselves if they cannot access medical and surgical procedures easily?

[DryHeave]

Absolutely.

It just seems entirely contradictory to say there is a need to de-medicalise and at the same time maintain that medical treatment is the only solution.

This piece was the first time that really stood out for me.

[ScrimshawTheSecond]

Thx for the link!

[MurrayBlackburnMackenzie]

We've just written about the Minister's claim about seeking consensus:

murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2020/02/21/is-the-scottish-government-seeking-to-build-consensus-on-gender-recognition-reform/

[BetsyM00]

What exactly does the term 'trans' mean these days?

As far as this proposed law change goes, it doesn't matter. The words transsexual or transgender do not feature at all in the Bill. It covers anyone who wishes to make a declaration and change the sex recorded on their birth certificate.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

We've just written about the Minister's claim about seeking consensus

That's an excellent piece! Im quite proud that I independently got some of that into my consultation response

[BetsyM00]

Good analysis by MBM. I want to add on to the bottom of it...and would not avoid the almost certainly forthcoming judicial review.