Christian MPs have blasted the Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, saying the legislation “does not create sufficient safeguards” to protect women and children from predatory men.
During a debate following Westminster’s decision to exercise its right to block the legislation on the grounds it was incompatible with UK equality law, Miriam Cates and Nick Fletcher were among those speaking out against the Bill’s fundamental problems.
It would have allowed those as young as 16 to change legal sex, and removed the need for anyone wishing to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) to have had a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
‘Fraudulent and malign applications’
Mrs Cates said the Government is “right to be concerned about fraudulent and malign applications”, given the implications for child safeguarding.
She cited evidence recently given to the Education Select Committee by Professor Alexis Jay, Independent Chair of the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, who spoke about her decades of experience investigating child sexual abuse.
The Conservative MP for Penistone and Stockbridge said: “There is one key feature of that abuse, which is that predators will exploit any loophole they can find to get access to children. And that is, I’m afraid, what will happen with this Bill.
“We shouldn’t be asking ‘How easy is it for someone who is uncomfortable with their sex to obtain a GRC?’, we should be asking ‘How easy is it for a predator to gain access to children?’ and I’m afraid this Bill would make it vastly easier for a predator to get access to children, to change their sex, to change their gender, with an eye to exploit loopholes of accessing children and women in particular.”
predators will exploit any loophole they can find to get access to children
Too young
She continued: “The naivety that the Bill has been written with is astounding and hugely worrying. I think also the reduction of the age limit to 16 is a significant safeguarding risk.
“The human brain does not end development until about the age of 25. You can’t drive a car when you’re 16. There are an awful lot of things that people are not legally allowed to do when they are 16 because they cannot assess the long-term implications for their welfare.
“Changing your legal gender with a potential route to long-term changes to your fertility, your sexual function, your health, is not suitable for 16-year-olds, that’s a huge safeguarding risk.”
Mrs Cates also highlighted that women are naturally wary of men in intimate spaces, adding: “That’s why we have single-sex spaces. They must continue to exist for the safety and privacy of women. This threatens that social contract.”
‘Transphobic’
The MP said: “Finally, it threatens the understanding of our law, which should be based on fact, and you cannot change your sex any more than you can change your place of birth or who your parents are.”
She said those struggling with gender dysphoria should be treated with compassion, but warned: “If the law is not based on fact, then how can we trust the law?”
you cannot change your sex any more than you can change your place of birth or who your parents are
She was attacked for her speech by homosexual Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who branded her words “transphobic”, “disgusting” and “bigotry” before being warned by the Deputy Speaker to “moderate his language”.
Protections
Another Christian MP, Nick Fletcher, also questioned multiple aspects of the Scottish legislation.
He said: “There may have been six years of consultation and many experts may have gone through this, but unfortunately there has been no common sense.
“The only common sense and wisdom that I have heard today has been about the Secretary of State using section 35 to protect women and children in England.”
‘Disgrace’
The MP continued: “There are families in this country in which boys and girls are coming home from school and saying that they are in the wrong body. These sorts of things are being glamourised on TV as though it is a wonderful thing.
“Let me tell the House that it is tearing parents, families and children apart and setting children on to a path of puberty blockers, hormone replacements and surgery. It is a disgrace what we are doing with children, and it must stop.
“I just hope that the parents who have to hear their children say that show wisdom and stick fast and hard to their belief that their child was born in the right body.
“We should do all we can in this place to protect those parents, protect women and protect children.”
UK Govt set to derail Holyrood ‘sex-swap’ law