EHRC calls on Scot Govt to halt ‘choose your own sex’ plan

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has called on the Scottish Government to halt its plans to introduce radical gender reforms due to widespread ‘concerns’ at their impact.

In a letter to Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison, the Commission – which covers the whole of the UK – stressed that the “established legal concept of sex” gave the “correct balanced legal framework that protects everyone”.

A Scottish Government spokesman said that, while it would consider the EHRC’s letter, “Our proposals to reform the current Gender Recognition Act do not introduce any new rights for trans people or change single sex exceptions in the Equality Act.”

Valid views

The Scottish Government’s proposals on changing legal sex include removing the need for applicants to provide any medical evidence, reducing the two-year waiting period to three months and even allowing those as young as 16 to legally alter their birth sex.

The Commission’s Chairwoman Baroness Falkner warned that the “potential consequences” of the reforms included “the collection and use of data, participation and drug testing in competitive sport, measures to address barriers facing women, and practices within the criminal justice system”.

She added that the equality watchdog believed “that more detailed consideration is needed before any change is made to the provisions in the Act”.

LGBT lobby groups branded the intervention “deeply disappointing”, with Stonewall claiming the Commission had made “an attack on trans equality”.

‘Views of women valid’

But women’s groups welcomed the news. Susan Smith, a Director of For Women Scotland, expressed her delight “that the EHRC agrees that the views of so many women are, after all, valid.

“We only wish that the Scottish Government had taken the time to engage thoroughly and in good faith at the start of the process rather than simply relying on their funded groups and failing to engage with opposing views.”

Opinion polls indicate that the Scottish Government’s radical proposals are not welcome with the Scottish public.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she recognised some people had “sincerely held concerns” but claimed the reforms would not “remove any of the legal protections that women currently have”.