Scottish Government Review of Gender recognition act 2004 consultation now open.

This consultation is typical- the Scottish Government have made their decision and they are not going to listen to any arguments. Don't worry I have still filled it in because you have to try. Westminster will be watching this one and if it goes through without much fuss they will feel confident to go ahead with theirs. I agree with others that this is a much harder fight in Scotland because of the SNP. Here's a reminder that even the non Scots can contribute to the consultation so please do - we need all the help we can get.

Should we be getting ahead of the game & writing to women's groups, highlighting the issues; the fact that trans women maintain a male patten of criminality in terms of male violence /sexual offences etc. I wonder if they just don't know . .

I wondered that too about the women’s groups and their support, whether it came down to funding. I’d understand if they were afraid to publicly oppose the bill but to be sticking their heads above the parapet to support it is a fucking disgrace. Women’s organisations supporting legislation that will make it easier for men to commit violence against women. You couldn’t make it up. Are there any organisations out there who are actually for women?

All three rely on govt. and/or lottery funding. They're probably too scared to stick their necks out over this.

Why are those women's groups supporting this?

Oops posted too soon- whilst I am a member of one the Law Society's policy committees this consultation is not within the remit of my commitee.

I disagree with the suggestion that transitioning should no longer be a ground for divorce/dissolution of a civil partnership. It should not be for the person who transitions but certainly should be, should they wish to do so, for the other spouse or partner.

Having spent considerable time responding to Scottish Government consultations I am sceptical there is any point in doing so

The ones I responded to start from an agenda with the aim of getting to conclusion the Government wants which it then gets.

I am not responding to this one. The Law Society of Scotland is , as always, a consultee. Whilst I am a member of

I think it is a done deal. But equally, I think we do need to organise and get meetings with our MSPs and see if we can find at least one who would maybe host a meeting like David Davies MP did in House of Commons. Am going to meet a couple of friends next week and see if we can build some collective action. The women's groups mentioned above that support this don't represent the breadth of women's views in Scotland. At the moment we're shut out of any decion making structures.

This is strange - Annex K - list of organisations who have been sent the consultation - out of 117 orgs, 35 are christian faith groups (~30%) and if you add up all faith groups it's 57 (~49%)

19 LGBT orgs (including NHS gender ID services), of which 8 are faith based (42%)

Only 3 women's groups - Engender, Scottish Rape Crisis, Scottish Women's Aid, all of which appear to be endorsing the proposals

I think they do think that. It's a paper tick box exercise for them.

Just read your image. Fucking fucking hell that's atrocious. How dare they

Oh good. I will fill it out and encourage everyone else I know to do so.

I just had a trawl through, it's shocking!

Question 15 invites comments on, among other things, the equality impact assessment they have done. This is how much thought they have given to the effect on those of us impacted because of the protected characteristic of 'sex'.

BTW, for anyone wondering, they appear to be accepting views from people in Scotland, people in the rest of the UK and people in the rest of the world.

I saw that Engender thing on some transactivist's twitter yesterday.

It's shitty that Women's Aid and Rape Crisis are supporting this.

Maybe it's my settings. Thank you

What was the Fb link? Looks like it's been taken down.

Would anyone around central Scotland like to team up to visit some MSPs and MPs, write letters, etc? Please PM me.

Anyone seen this? Soo depressing -

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1717456074995095&id=132927043448014

Thanks for sharing this
I have completed it. I have a fairly interesting job in that I work with people with serious mental health problems, and I also work in prisons and for the courts. I answered in this context- giving examples of issues that could come up in prison environments and other environments where people are detained against their will; thereby making other people vulnerable.

I also talked about how this would allow heterosexual couples to get civil partnerships simply by manipulating the legislation (though actually I think this is no bad thing in principle, I would rather have a civil partnership than a wedding!)
They send a PDF of your response once you complete it. Happy to DM my response if anyone wants to have a look at what my thoughts were.

I emailed my MSP and she's agreed to meet me to discuss at her next surgery. She sounded open to considering the options. A chink of light perhaps. I hope it's a free vote and they are not all just expected to tow the party line.
I do think it's worth contacting your MSPs about this though