Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill
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The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill is a bill passed by the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
. The bill seeks to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2004 of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
, making it simpler for people to change their
legal gender Legal gender, or legal sex, is a sex or gender that is recognized under the law. Biological sex, sex reassignment and gender identity are used to determine legal gender. The details vary by jurisdiction. Legal gender identity is fundament ...
. On 17 January 2023, the
United Kingdom government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
used section 35 of the
Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...
to block the bill from receiving
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
, the first time section 35 has been used.


Background

In July 2002, the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
ruled in the ''Goodwin v United Kingdom'' case that a trans person's inability to change the sex on their
birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the Childbirth, birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation ...
was a breach of their rights under Article 8 (privacy) and
Article 12 Article 12 is a youth-led children's rights organisation based in England. Its main aim was to ensure the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), specifically Article 12. The group, run by a steering com ...
(marriage) of the
European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...
. Following this judgement, the UK government had to introduce new legislation to comply, which became law as the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA). To obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) under the GRA, an applicant must a) provide evidence of a diagnosis of
gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...
; b) have lived in their "acquired gender" for two years; and c) make a statutory declaration that they intend to live in the acquired gender until death. In a June 2020 report, the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
classified the legal procedures for gender recognition of 28 European countries into five categories based on the barriers to access. This placed the UK's Gender Recognition Act 2004 in the second from bottom category with "intrusive medical requirements" that lag behind international human rights standards. The procedures have also been described as costly, bureaucratic, and time-consuming for trans people, with successful applicants having to wait two years until they can change their legal gender. The issue of gender recognition is
devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...
in Scotland, which allows the Scottish parliament, if it wishes, to legislate for a different policy from that of England and Wales. In 2004, the Scottish Parliament passed a motion to consent to Westminster's GRA, so that a uniform system of gender recognition would be in place throughout the UK. A 2018 consultation in England and Wales found that a majority of the over 100,000 respondents were in favour of removing most of the requirements for a GRC; despite this, in 2020, the government in Westminster announced that it would not legislate to relax the requirements. Separately, the Scottish government also consulted on reforming the law: an initial consultation on the principles of the bill which took place between November 2017 and March 2018 found a majority of the 15,500 respondents in favour of the bill; and the second consultation on a draft bill, taking place between November 2019 and March 2020, also found majority support.


Legislative process


Draft stage

The
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...
(SNP) committed to "review and reform gender recognition law, so it's in line with international best practice for people who are transgender" in their manifesto for the
2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth Next Scottish Parliament election, election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It ...
, which they won. After the consultations ended, the Scottish government intended to introduce the bill to Parliament in 2020, but was forced by the
COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland The COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland is part of the COVID-19 pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease-2019, caused by the virus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Scotland on 1 M ...
to delay consideration until after the
2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. 129 Member of the Scottish Parliament, ...
. The 2021 election saw the SNP returned to government, this time in a coalition with the
Scottish Greens The Scottish Greens (also known as the Scottish Green Party; ) are a green political party in Scotland. The party has 7 MSPs of 129 in the Scottish Parliament, the party holds 35 of the 1226 councillors at Scottish local Government level. The ...
rather than as a
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...
; both parties featured the bill in their manifestos. The Bute House Agreement between the two parties committed to introducing a Gender Recognition Reform Bill before the end of May 2022.


Stage 1

The bill was introduced on 2 March 2022, by Shona Robison, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government. The bill lowers the age people can change their legal gender from 18 to 16, removes the requirement of a medical diagnosis of
gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...
, and reduces the waiting time from two years to six months of living in an acquired gender. Also issued on the same day were a delegated powers memorandum, policy memorandum, financial memorandum, and statement of legislative competence. The bill was subject to a mandatory consultation–its third–by the Scottish Parliament's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. This committee was designated as the lead committee and ran thirteen evidence sessions. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee of the Scottish Parliament, issued a report to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, on 16 May 2022, regarding the delegated powers memorandum for the bill, which reported they were content with the delegated powers provisions contained within the bill. The Finance and Public Administration Committee held a consultation on the financial memorandum, which received six responses, all of which were forwarded to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. The committee took no action based on the results of its consultation and recommended no changes to the financial memorandum. The Stage 1 report, from the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, recommended that the general principles be approved.


Stage 1 vote

The bill was voted on by the full parliament on 27 October 2022 and passed by a majority of 88 to 33, with 4 abstentions and 4 members not voting.


Stage 2

A number of amendments were proposed made to the bill at Stage 2, the majority of which were not passed. The Finance and Public Administration Committee published an updated financial memorandum on 7 December 2022 on the bill and noted the updates at its meeting on 13 December 2022.


Stage 3

The bill was heard at Stage 3 on 20–21 December 2022 for amendments to the bill. The final debate and vote was held on 22 December 2022.


Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

On 19 December 2022, the day before the Stage 3 debate began, the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee held an evidence session on the bill. They heard from two
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
representatives, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, an expert on
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
and United Nations Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and Reem Alsalem, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. Madrigal-Borloz described the Scottish bill as a "significant step forward", while Alsalem said it "would potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a gender certificate and the rights that are associated with it", a view that was disputed by Madrigal-Borloz, who said it would bring Scotland in line with international human rights standards.


Stage 3 vote

The bill was voted on by the full parliament on 22 December 2022 and passed by a majority of 86 to 39, with 0 abstentions and 4 members not voting. The announcement of the result was accompanied by cheers from supporters in the chamber, and shouts of "shame on you" from protesters in the public gallery.


Veto by UK Government

On 16 January 2023, Scotland Secretary Alister Jack announced that he would make an order under section 35 of the
Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...
, which would prevent the bill from proceeding to
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
. Jack cited concerns that the bill would adversely impact the UK-wide
Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 (c. 15) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis o ...
as the reason for the tabling of the motion before the Westminster Parliament; equal opportunities are a reserved matter under the Scotland Act. The order using the negative procedure was made on 17 January 2023 and entered into force on the next day. The negative procedure means that the order is in force unless either house of Parliament votes to disagree with the order within 40 days. The final day to vote a disagreement was 27 February 2023. This was the first time royal assent was not granted to a bill passed by the Scottish Parliament since its creation in 1999. As similar powers regarding the
Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
and
Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...
have never been used, this is the first post-legislative veto of a bill since Queen Anne refused assent to the Scottish Militia Bill in 1708. On 17 January 2023, Jack made a formal statement to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
that he was using section 35 of the Scotland Act and set out his reasons for doing so. On 18 January the statement of Jack that was made in the Commons was presented and debated in the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
. On 17 January 2023, Stephen Flynn the SNP leader at Westminster requested and was granted an emergency debate on the use of the Section 35 order. The debate was on the question "This House has considered the Government's decision to use section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 with regard to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill." The debate lasted for two hours and the house voted 318 to 71 in favour of the UK government position that the house had considered the matter. UK Prime Minister and Labour Party leader,
Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
has said he will continue the block on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. On 24 January 2023, Flynn tabled a
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against the section 35 Order which was worded as follows: "That a humble Address be presented to His Majesty, praying that The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (Prohibition on Submission for Royal Assent) Order 2023, dated 17 January 2023, a copy of which was laid before this House on 17 January 2023, be annulled".


Judicial process


Judicial review

On 12 April 2023, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in the devolved
Scottish government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...
, Shirley-Anne Somerville, announced the intention to launch a request for a
judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...
of the UK government's use of Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 against the bill. The hearing of the court case began on 19 September 2023 at the Court of Session in Edinburgh and was completed the following day. The court's ruling was delivered on 8 December 2023; the judge rejected the Scottish Government's legal challenge. In his analysis for '' The Herald'', the newspaper's political editor, Tom Gordon, wrote of the ruling, "Make no mistake. This is not a narrow defeat for the Scottish Government and Mr Yousaf's decision to go to court come-what-may. It is a comprehensive demolition job". On 20 December 2023, Somerville announced that the Scottish government would not appeal the ruling, but would not withdraw the bill from the Scottish parliament. She said: "For the avoidance of doubt, this bill is not in the bin and is waiting an incoming UK government that has more respect for devolution." On 10 May 2024, First Minister and SNP Leader,
John Swinney John Ramsay Swinney (born 13 April 1964) is a Scottish politician who has served as First Minister of Scotland, first minister of Scotland since 2024. Swinney has served as Leader of the Scottish National Party, leader of the Scottish National ...
formally abandoned Nicola Sturgeon's self-ID gender plans after saying they cannot be implemented. He told
Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...
that "The reality of the situation we face is that the Supreme Court has said that we can't legislate in that area. We can't take forward that legislation".


Opinion on the bill


Support

The bill was supported by
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
,
LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...
, and human rights campaign organisations such as
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
, Stonewall, Rape Crisis Scotland, Equality Network, Engender, Scottish Trans Alliance, and Scottish Women's Aid. The vast majority of SNP and
Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...
parliamentarians, as well as all Scottish Green and
Scottish Liberal Democrat The Scottish Liberal Democrats () is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 5 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons and 86 of 1, ...
MSPs supported the bill, as did three of the Scottish Conservative members. The bill is similar to the one adopted in the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
. In
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
, the bill was supported by
Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...
, the Alliance Party, and the
Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (M ...
, whose politicians and MPs raised the possibility of adopting a similar bill.


Opposition

The bill was opposed by some political, social, feminist and religious organisations such as the Scottish Conservatives, the
LGB Alliance The LGB Alliance is a British advocacy group and registered charity founded in 2019 in opposition to the policies of LGBT rights charity Stonewall on transgender issues. Its founders are Bev Jackson, Kate Harris, Allison Bailey, Malcolm Clar ...
, Fair Play for Women, the Catholic
Bishops' Conference of Scotland The Bishops' Conference of Scotland (BCOS), under the trust of the Catholic National Endowment Trust, and based in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, is an episcopal conference for archbishops and bishops of the Catholic Church in Scotland. The confer ...
and For Women Scotland, a group founded to oppose the bill. Nine SNP members voted against the bill at stage 3, which was reported in
Euronews Euronews (stylised in lowercase) is a pan-European television news broadcasting, news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in Europe and North Africa via satellite, and in most of the ...
as "the biggest rebellion against the government by its own party in the last 15 years". The Minister for Community Safety, the SNP's Ash Regan, resigned before the Stage 2 vote, saying she was concerned the bill could have "negative implications for the safety and dignity of women and girls". Regan
left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...
the party within a year.


Opinion polls

A January 2022 poll commissioned for the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, conducted by Savanta ComRes, found 57% of Scots supported making it easier to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate; a majority opposed reducing the age for this from 18 to 16. The same poll found that over 40% of people supported self-identification, compared to 37% against it. A 2023
YouGov YouGov plc is a international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm headquartered in the UK with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. History 2000–2010 Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim ...
poll commissioned by ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' found that two thirds of Scottish voters opposed key aspects of the bill, particularly those relating the lowering of the minimum age for applying for a GRC. Soon after the passage of the bill, academic commentary began to moot the possibility of an invocation of section 35 of the
Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...
to block the bill. On 21 December 2022, Dr Michael Foran, a lecturer in public law at the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
, floated the idea that the bill could be blocked as it infringed on the operation of reserved matters. On 23 December 2022, Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...
said that it would be "completely reasonable" for the United Kingdom government to block the bill, citing concerns for "women and children's safety". On 16 January 2023, in response to continued reports that the government was planning to block the bill, Scotland's first minister
Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) sin ...
called the prospect an "outrage", and stated the UK government was using transgender people as a "political weapon". Following Jack's announcement in the House of Commons of the UK that the bill would be blocked, Sturgeon said that the dispute would "inevitably end up in court" and that the Scottish government would "vigorously defend" the bill. Kemi Badenoch, the
minister for women and equalities Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom in the Department for Education. Prior to July 2024, the position led the Government Equalities Office. Its counterpart in the shadow cabinet is the shadow minis ...
, suggested that gender recognition certificates and associated government documents would no longer be recognised in England and Wales if they were from places "where there is a clear indication that the country now no longer has a system at least as rigorous as those in the Gender Recognition Act 2004". On 17 January 2023, the Westminster government released a policy statement on their decision to invoke Section 35. In the statement they set out three primary reasons why they believed the Scottish bill impinged upon reserved matters: firstly, a potential impact on provision of single-sex services authorised under the
Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 (c. 15) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis o ...
as a result of creating "two parallel and very different regimes" for issuing gender recognition certificates; secondly, a potential increased risk of fraudulent applications; thirdly, potential impacts on the operation of the Equality Act 2010. Alister Jack and Kemi Badenoch were invited by the Scottish Parliament's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee to give evidence about their decision to block the bill; both declined to attend.
Lord Hope of Craighead James Arthur David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead (born 27 June 1938) is a retired Scotland, Scottish judge who served as the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General, Scotland's most senior judge, and later as first Deput ...
, formerly deputy president of the
UK Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...
defended the legality of the UK government's decision and said that the possibility of success of a legal challenge against the decision by the Scottish Government was "very low". Former Labour shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti, also defended the legality of the government's decision. Former Labour Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer of Thoroton has tweeted that the UK government's reasons are not justified. Nancy Kelley, the chief executive of Stonewall, and Colin Macfarlane, the director of Stonewall Scotland, said that Sunak was risking "re-toxifying" his government's record on LGBTQ rights and introducing "an effective trans travel ban". Kelley and Macfarlane were quoted as saying "the UK government sees trans people as a threat to be contained, not citizens to be respected". A Cabinet Office spokesperson responded by saying that trans people "have not and will not be banned" from entering the UK. In contrast to Labour Party leader
Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
, who criticised the bill as "cavalier",
Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...
leader
Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party, Co-operative politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021 Scottish Labour leadership election, 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottis ...
supported the bill. Maggie Baska in '' PinkNews'' notes that Starmer "faced backlash from other politicians, LGBTQ+ advocates and trans people over his comments on the GRR bill".


See also

* History of transgender people in the United Kingdom *
Legal status of transgender people The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...
* LGBTQ rights in Scotland * LGBTQ rights in the United Kingdom * Transgender rights in the United Kingdom


References


External links

* *{{Commons category-inline, Protests against the blocking of Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill Transgender law in the United Kingdom 2004 in LGBTQ history 2022 in LGBTQ history 2022 in British politics Political controversies in the United Kingdom Transgender history in the United Kingdom Transgender topics in Scotland Scottish devolution Proposed laws of Scotland