Consideration of amendments to gender reforms begins after Tory delays

A marathon Holyrood session has begun to consider amendments to controversial gender reforms, following delaying attempts by the Scottish Tories.

More than 150 changes to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill will be voted on by MSPs on Tuesday, ranging from including background checks for applicants, potential punishments for fraudulently obtaining a GRC, the impact of the Bill on the Equality Act and a review of trans prisoners.

The session in Holyrood began with apparent attempts from the Scottish Tories to delay proceedings, tabling four amendments to the parliamentary agenda from four different members, forcing a vote on the timetable for the consideration of amendments, raising a further motion which MSPs had to vote on and a number of points of order in the chamber.

After a delay of more than an hour, MSPs began debating amendments in a session due to finish after 10pm on Tuesday and stretch into Wednesday before the final vote.

Opponents of the Bill, which would make it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC), fear it could be a danger to women and girls, particularly around the provision of single-sex spaces.

But the Scottish Government has insisted repeatedly that the legislation will not impact on the Equality Act, which allows for trans people to be excluded from single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and shelters, something that was affirmed by an earlier amendment from Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy.

The Bill will make it easier for trans people to acquire a gender recognition certificate (GRC) by removing the requirement for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

It will also lower the minimum age for applicants from 18 to 16 and drop the time required for an applicant to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months – six for people aged 16 and 17 – though with a subsequent, three-month reflection period.

Despite the controversy permeating the debate on the Bill in recent months, the legislation is likely to pass when it comes to a vote on Wednesday in Holyrood, given the wide support among the SNP, the Scottish Greens, Scottish Labour and the Lib Dems.

In the stage one vote on the Bill, seven SNP MSPs voted against the Bill – including former community safety minister Ash Regan, who resigned in the hours before the vote – while two others abstained.

Ms Regan said during the consideration of amendments she would not be supporting the Bill, while fellow SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson hinted he would again rebel against the Bill.

Meanwhile, more than 60 LGBT+ groups wrote to MSPs, urging them to back the Bill and reject amendments that would change the “core principles” of the legislation.

The groups say the legislation should be based on the making of a statutory declaration, the minimum age for application should be 16 and the effects of a GRC should remain the same as in the initial Gender Recognition Act.

On Monday, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a UN expert on gender identity, and Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women, spoke to members of Holyrood’s equalities committee ahead of the debate.

Ms Alsalem said plans to introduce self-ID could see violent men taking advantage of loopholes “to get into women’s spaces and have access to women”.

However, Mr Madrigal-Borloz told the more than two-hour committee meeting there was “no evidence” that “maintaining complexity in the process of recognition of gender identity would be an effective safeguard”.