Scottish GRC Reform.
This week has been a very bad week politics wise for the LGBT+ community and especially the Transgender community.
Since we transgender people only make up 0.5% of the population of England and Wales, this current government has been very, shall we say, nasty towards us. BUT this week started off bad from an unexpected corner.
Kier Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, the party that I am a member of, the party I am also LGBT Officer for my local Constituency Labour Party, on Sunday came out with some really bad comments on TV.
Recently the Scottish government passed a motion that allows transgender people in Scotland to get a GRC (Gender Recognition Certificate) from the age of 16 and without a medical diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria. While anyone 18+ has a cool-off period of 3 months, those between 16-18 have to wait 6 months. While in the UK this is groundbreaking, around the world it is not. Ireland for instance has a similar law, Argentina has had one for 10 years without any problems. So do other countries. It's commonly referred to as "Self-ID"
So what does a GRC allow you to do?
A GRC is a certificate that allows you to change your gender. It allows you to get married as your preferred gender, it allows you to die and have a funeral as your preferred gender and have pensions as your preferred gender. That’s it. The one thing it does not do is cover things like single sex spaces. This is covered by the Equality Act 2010 which is a UK wide law.
Kier Starmer went on TV to state he as “reservations” about 16yo being able to change gender legally. Sorry but in Scotland at 16 you can vote, you can start a family and you can join the Army. Personally I knew when I was 5. I have yet to meet a transgender person that didn’t know they was in the wrong body that was older than 12. While I know he is not transphobic, he definitely needs to get better advisors when it comes to LGBT+ matters.
Then there is the current Tory Government. What can I say about them? They are using part of the devolution act, Section 35, to kill the motion, that by the way was passed by 2/3 of the MSP’s and had MSP’s by every single party vote in favour of it. Section 35 means the UK government can stop a law passed by a devolved power (so the Welsh and Scottish Governments or the NI Assembly) from getting Royal Assent, thus stopping it becoming law.
The ground on why they are using Section 35 is that it will effect the UK wide and non devolved law of the Equalities Act 2010. As I discussed above, it does not effect that law at all.
We are of course being used as a political football by the conservatives to distract everyone from the troubles the UK is in, IE high inflation, low wages, strikes and much much more.
This is getting so bad that I am thinking of moving out of England when I can afford it to Scotland, where at least the government there is on the side of its people, and not the top 10%.
Since we transgender people only make up 0.5% of the population of England and Wales, this current government has been very, shall we say, nasty towards us. BUT this week started off bad from an unexpected corner.
Kier Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, the party that I am a member of, the party I am also LGBT Officer for my local Constituency Labour Party, on Sunday came out with some really bad comments on TV.
Recently the Scottish government passed a motion that allows transgender people in Scotland to get a GRC (Gender Recognition Certificate) from the age of 16 and without a medical diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria. While anyone 18+ has a cool-off period of 3 months, those between 16-18 have to wait 6 months. While in the UK this is groundbreaking, around the world it is not. Ireland for instance has a similar law, Argentina has had one for 10 years without any problems. So do other countries. It's commonly referred to as "Self-ID"
So what does a GRC allow you to do?
A GRC is a certificate that allows you to change your gender. It allows you to get married as your preferred gender, it allows you to die and have a funeral as your preferred gender and have pensions as your preferred gender. That’s it. The one thing it does not do is cover things like single sex spaces. This is covered by the Equality Act 2010 which is a UK wide law.
Kier Starmer went on TV to state he as “reservations” about 16yo being able to change gender legally. Sorry but in Scotland at 16 you can vote, you can start a family and you can join the Army. Personally I knew when I was 5. I have yet to meet a transgender person that didn’t know they was in the wrong body that was older than 12. While I know he is not transphobic, he definitely needs to get better advisors when it comes to LGBT+ matters.
Then there is the current Tory Government. What can I say about them? They are using part of the devolution act, Section 35, to kill the motion, that by the way was passed by 2/3 of the MSP’s and had MSP’s by every single party vote in favour of it. Section 35 means the UK government can stop a law passed by a devolved power (so the Welsh and Scottish Governments or the NI Assembly) from getting Royal Assent, thus stopping it becoming law.
The ground on why they are using Section 35 is that it will effect the UK wide and non devolved law of the Equalities Act 2010. As I discussed above, it does not effect that law at all.
We are of course being used as a political football by the conservatives to distract everyone from the troubles the UK is in, IE high inflation, low wages, strikes and much much more.
This is getting so bad that I am thinking of moving out of England when I can afford it to Scotland, where at least the government there is on the side of its people, and not the top 10%.
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