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Original poster

Please do Scottish self-id consultation (even if not Scottish)

185 replies

okMaybeIAmATERF · 25/01/2018 12:49

Here's the URL: please do the consultation. (I think this has been posted before, but it bears repeating.)
consult.gov.scot/family-law/review-of-the-gender-recognition-act-2004/
To note:

  1. At the end, you will be asked whether you are resident in Scotland, the rest of the UK, or elsewhere - i.e. you don't have to be in Scotland, though obviously it's more important to be heard if you are.
  2. You will also be asked whether you want your response published with your name, without your name, or not at all - if that makes a difference to how you write your answers, it might be helpful to know this up front. Closes on March 1st, but don't wait till then!
OP posts:
Original poster
okMaybeIAmATERF · 25/01/2018 14:29

The current situation is that the law does not make a clear distinction between sex and gender, so legally, a gender recognition certificate does change someone's sex. (There's a quotation in the consultation document that is a real classic of "thinking those terms are synonyms".)

I have come to, and expressed in the consultation, a position I wouldn't have believed a couple of years ago that I'd ever travel in the direction of, let along arrive at: I don't think anyone should be given a gender recognition certificate, under any circumstances. Instead, I think we should rigorously examine the cases where sex is held to be relevant and make sure it isn't allowed to be used except where it is relevant. (Which mostly means applying the current sex discrimination legislation better, but may require some further action, e.g., not allowing employers to have separate rules about dress and makeup for men and for women.)

OP posts:
DodoPatrol · 25/01/2018 14:15

I see they require you to give an email address.
It says something, doesn't it, that doing that for a government organization feels risky.

AdultHumanFemale · 25/01/2018 14:10

I am staggered by the strangeness of this document. It shows such a clear bias and ignorance. The question about how to handle civil partnerships is weird; it sort of coyly explains that if one member of a same sex couple gets a GRC there will be 'a man and a woman in a civil partnership'. Eh?! To which I responded:
A Gender Recognition Certificate does not change someone's SEX, their actual BIOLOGY, so no, it would NOT be a man (xy chromosomes) and a woman (xx chromosomes) in a civil partnership, it would still be a SAME SEX couple, in which one partner IDENTIFIES as the opposite sex. So not actually changing anything biologically.
Or am l missing something? This should not need to be spelled out, unless they think it's already a done deal.

SteelyPip · 25/01/2018 13:21

Done

GuardianLions · 25/01/2018 13:20

Thanks for posting this again with this title - I did it a few weeks back after having overlooked the Scottish consultation thread thinking it didn't apply to me and then I read down and saw that I could participate - so hopefully, worded this way there'll be more takers!

Original poster
okMaybeIAmATERF · 25/01/2018 13:20

That's right, @Mumsnut . Instead you'd have to wait one year, if he agreed, or two years, if he didn't.

OP posts:
Mumsnut · 25/01/2018 13:17

"Should legal gender recognition stop being a ground of divorce or dissolution?"

Blimey. So the auld man could get himself declared a woman and I wouldn't be able to divorce him on those grounds?

MadCap · 25/01/2018 13:16

Done.

Patodp · 25/01/2018 13:10

Is there one of these for England?

KissMaCis · 25/01/2018 13:03

Done and shared.