Campaign in Scotland

[Cismyfatarse]

Please, if you live in Scotland, get the message to your MSPs.

forwomenscotland.eaction.org.uk/MSP

Follow the link and it is all very easy. If you can share far and wide, that would be great.

From Willie Rennie

Thank you for taking the time to set out your views regarding gender recognition in Scotland.

Reforms to the law around gender recognition are currently being considered. Legislation is required to take this forward, and changes can only be made after a detailed process of public scrutiny. Two extensive consultations have already been conducted, and further engagement will take place as firm legislative proposals are developed.

Both I, and my party, believe that it is possible to safely reduce the evidential threshold for Gender Recognition Certificates. The current threshold requires a process that many find to be impractical, unfair and inaccessible. For example, it requires a long series of expensive professional reports.

The Scottish Parliament’s legislative process offers opportunity for evidence, reflection and amendment. It also includes an opportunity for those with concerns about the legislation that has been proposed to have them formally incorporated into the debate, and reflected in evidence. In my view, the parliament is the best arena for these issues to be set out and debated.

The legislation to bring forward reform has been delayed, and in the absence of clear proposals important debates around the precise plans have continued without sufficient information to ground them. An extremely polarised debate has materialised as a result, and nobody has benefitted from this.

You may be aware that single sex spaces are already written into law, through exceptions contained within the Equality Act 2010. It says single sex spaces are not discriminatory where they are a "proportionate means to a legitimate aim". Where clarity around these protections would assist in providing reassurance for those with concerns, this should happen alongside reform. However, to be clear, there are no plans to reform the Equality Act or remove the option of this type of exclusion. Single sex spaces will therefore continue regardless of any reform to the Gender Recognition Act.

I hope this response assists you, and that you are assured that it is my intention to see a full and frank public debate before any change to the law on gender recognition in Scotland.
In the meantime, I hope this is helpful.

Kind regards

Willie

Labour:

Thank you for your email, and apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Scottish Labour has always been committed to equality and human rights. We have a track record on equality law. It was Labour Governments which passed the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 as well as the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Equality Act 2010.

Labour believes that the rights of trans people must be protected and that concerns over their health and treatment in public should be addressed. We are committed to reform of the gender recognition process. Labour also believes that the Equalities Act and single sex exemptions contained therein must be adhered to. This is the basis of the Labour manifesto on which we stood in May of this year. The First Minister has assured Parliament that her legislation will meet both standards and Labour stands ready to engage on this basis.

The Scottish Government have finally published the results of the further consultation into their proposed reforms, but they have not yet introduced a reform Bill to Parliament so the final detail of what they will propose is not yet known.

We are therefore committed to closely scrutinising any Bill when it is finally brought forward and ensuring that it adequately guarantees the rights and protections of all.

I hope this provides you with clarity and reassurance.

Single sex spaces will therefore continue regardless of any reform to the Gender Recognition Act.

And that, and all of its variants, need to be kept for future reference.

Because when the reality - single sex = ALL women - becomes more visible in their own locale those MPs need to have their own words, naivety thrown back at them.

I would be holding those emails and scanning the newspapers daily for appropriate happenings to send to those MPs!

Greens (Harvie):

Thank you for your email to Patrick Harvie MSP regarding reform of the GRA. I am responding as one of Mister Harvie’s constituency members of staff.

The Scottish Green Party is proud to support rights for all women, including disabled women, lesbian, bisexual and trans women. We recognise the intersectional nature of power, which creates additional barriers for women facing multiple discriminations, and the necessity for feminists to work together to dismantle the patriarchy under which we live.

In accordance with this pledge, and our robust and proactive commitment to the rights of LGBT+ people, our manifesto commits us to deliver reform to the Gender Recognition Act, including statutory self-declaration. This commitment is reflected in the A fairer, greener Scotland Programme for Government, which embeds the cooperation agreement between ourselves and the Scottish Government. A fairer, greener Scotland confirms that:

“Within the next year we will bring forward the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, removing the current medical requirements and reducing the time that applicants for gender recognition need to have lived in their acquired gender from two years to three months.”

This reform is long overdue, after considerable consultation, and we will be working hard to ensure that it is now completed as soon as possible. As the European Court of Human Rights has confirmed, the human right to privacy requires that trans people are afforded proper legal gender recognition. Such fundamental human rights are not a matter for debate or delay, and we therefore robustly reject the divisive and procrastinating suggestion of a citizens’ assembly to discuss their existence.

Sadly, there has been much misinformation about what GRA reform does or doesn’t involve. The only effect of this reform will be to make the process by which a trans person can obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate less stressful, unfair, disrespectful and dangerous. It will have no effect upon the use of women’s spaces such as public toilets or upon participation in women’s sports, both of which are dealt with by the Equality Act. Neither will it change decisions about the type of prison to which offenders are sent, decisions which are made for individual prisoners on a case by case basis.

There is much work still to be done in protecting and enhancing the rights and the wellbeing of people throughout Scotland, including women, especially women prisoners, and LGBT+ people. This work includes many policy priorities set out in A fairer, greener Scotland: inclusive education, comprehensive childcare, an end to conversion therapy, access to trans healthcare and effective action on domestic abuse and sexual violence. We in the Scottish Greens are proud to have been in the forefront of many campaigns for equality, dignity and fair treatment, and will continue to speak and act for all who are still marginalised and oppressed within our society.

I hope this may be of some help with your enquiry.

The only effect of this reform will be to make the process by which a trans person can obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate less stressful, unfair, disrespectful and dangerous.

95% of all applications for a GRC are successful on the first attempt. There's no other legal status change we can apply for, no other benefit where this applies. It's the only application where applicants have access to a civil servant to help them with the application. Free of charge. The fee for the application itself can be waived if the applicant cannot afford it. This is not an unfair process. It works perfectly, and exactly as designed for the transsexuals who fought to get this in place and now a whole range of other members of the trans community as well.

The applicant never meets the panel making the decision. The panel is set up to rubber stamp applications (and various members of the tribunals deciding these cases have gone on record stating this). There is no questioning involved at all. No disrespect.

There is no stress involved other than getting a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which is now available from private doctors on request (for a fee), or in some cases following a tickbox exercise at the local GPs (for a much smaller fee).

I have no idea what is meant to be dangerous about the existing GRA process. The waiting time? If an applicant's mental health is so severely impacted by having to wait two years for something we are frequently told is just an inconsequential administrative change that it becomes dangerous, I believe that the underlying reasons for those mental health issues will find another focus even if the waiting time is cut. Especially since a GRC is claimed to make no difference to the applicant's rights to access anything.

The Scottish Government has not made the case for reform. Just repeating all these claims isn't making the case either.

I received this reply on Friday (2½ months after I emailed!) As expected, doesn't acknowledge any of the issues I raised.
Your post charlieparley is excellent and I may use a lot of that in my reply, if that's ok.

"Good afternoon.

Thank you for your email and please accept my apologies for the delay in replying.

Last year the SNP Government was elected on a manifesto which said,

“….we will work with trans people, women, equality groups, legal and human rights experts to identify the best and most effective way to improve and simplify the process by which a trans person can obtain legal recognition….We remain committed to making necessary the changes to the Gender Recognition Act that arise from this work at the earliest opportunity.

We will ensure that these changes do not affect the rights or protections that women currently have under the Equality Act.”

Yesterday in Parliament the First Minister said,

“The bill will seek to simplify an existing process; it will not confer any new rights on trans people, nor will it change any of the existing protections in the Equality Act 2010. It will not change the current position on data collection or the ability of sports organisations to take decisions, for example.

We will continue to engage with a range of organisations, but let me stress again: this is a bill that is designed to simplify an existing process, to reduce the distress, trauma, anxiety and, often, stigmatisation that trans people suffer in our society. The Government will set out its plans for the timetabling of that legislation in due course.”

I hope you find this information useful. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can assist you with anything else.

Yours sincerely

Joe FitzPatrick MSP"

I'm sorry, but letter writing achieves fuck all on this issue. So many of of us have written letters for years.. and we get the same shit as above. The SNP and the Greens DON'T GIVE A FUCK what women think.

The only way this is going to be defeated is if the general public know enough about it to oppose it before it is pushed through. Mass demonstration, cuffing yourself to lamposts etc. But I think it's too late, for Scotland at least.

I think it will go through in Scotland. I think when the public realises WTF is going on, it will be the end of the independence movement. By which time, Nicola Sturgeon will have moved to be the head of some NGO and and will be collecting the £££s on the Speaker circuit.

And it will take years to reserve the damage to women's rights.

Completely agree with you milady but as futile as it seems I can't continue writing letters as I want to be able to look my children in the eyes in the future and say I did try.

I just had another reply, in case anyone is interested.

"Thank you for your email about the reform of the Gender Recognition Act.

This proposed reform is one which I have long supported, and which my party promised to support in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. The effect will be to make it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate, a process which is currently much criticised by trans people and their allies.

I am aware of objections which have been raised, but I believe that these are based on misunderstandings. In particular, GRA reform will not affect access to single-sex spaces or services, which are already required not to discriminate against trans people unless this can be shown to be necessary in certain circumstances. This principle of non-discrimination is not dependent on GRC status, and this will remain the case following reform of the GRC process.

There are also concerns about the quality and accessibility of trans healthcare, and while this is not directly related to changes to the process for obtaining a GRC we are committed to improvement in these services. We have already secured crisis funding from the Scottish Government to begin the process of reforming these services, and we expect to bring waiting times in line with other NHS services as well as developing new delivery models. We also expect recommendations on the best ways to achieve equality for non-binary people.

These reforms are, in my view, long overdue. The delay in delivering them has been accompanied by a disturbing rise in transphobic sentiment in politics and in the media, as well as a rise in hate crime. I believe that the Scottish Government and all political parties have a responsibility to challenge transphobia, just as we must challenge homophobia, racism, misogyny, sectarianism and other forms of prejudice. Passing the legislation to reform the GRA is only one step, but an important one, and I look forward to voting for it.

Best wishes,

Maggie Chapman (she/her)"

I am aware of objections which have been raised, but I believe that these are based on misunderstandings. In particular, GRA reform will not affect access to single-sex spaces or services, which are already required not to discriminate against trans people unless this can be shown to be necessary in certain circumstances. This principle of non-discrimination is not dependent on GRC status, and this will remain the case following reform of the GRC process.

Oh my God. 'This won't affect women's right to single sex spaces because you never had a right to single sex spaces anyway.'

Maggie Chapman (she/her)

Lol, jfc.