Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon spoke at an event celebrating 30 years of the charity Zero Tolerance and its long running – and essential – commitment to ending violence against women. In a revealing sign of the times in Scotland today, organisers emailed those attending the event to warn them certain subjects should be ignored. As they put it: ‘We wish to create a safe and supported environment for our guests and ask you to support us in this aim by refraining from discussions of the definition of a woman and single sex spaces in relation to the gender recognition act.’
Well, good luck with that. It should be noted that there is no evidence or even suggestion this request emanated from the first minister’s office but, for the moment and whether Sturgeon likes it or not, this is the hot-ticket women’s issue in Scotland. I say women’s issue but, really, it’s not just a women’s issue. It is, in the end, a choice between those who wish to inhabit a reality-based world and those who insist truth is an endlessly moveable, malleable, feast.
To recap: the Scottish government intends to allow people to change their legal sex because they feel like doing so. Until now, those seeking a Gender Recognition Certificate (themselves a minority of those identifying as ‘trans’) required a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. A majority of Scottish MSPs – including most Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs as well as all the Greens and most SNP members – consider this a stigmatising and intrusive requirement. Henceforth a GRC should be available to anyone over the age of 16 who says they wish one. The door to gaining one has not just been unlocked, it has been removed from its hinges. For, as the Scottish government has argued in court, sex is no longer considered ‘immutable’.
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