Seven in ten Scots do not believe people should be allowed to change their legal sex by self-identification, new polling has confirmed.
The poll of over 1,000 Scottish adults, conducted by Panelbase on behalf of For Women Scotland, found that 71 per cent believed people wishing to change legal sex should be assessed by a medical professional first, with only 29 per cent in favour of self-identification.
A previous poll by Panelbase also found only one in five over-16s in Scotland agreed that changing legal sex should be available on the basis of self-declaration.
Too easy
The polling confirms there is little support for the Scottish Government’s proposals to make changing legal sex much easier by removing the requirement to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and instead replace it with a self-declaration system.
And while Scots must currently have lived as their preferred gender for a minimum of two years before they can change legal sex, the Scottish Government wants to reduce this time to just three months.
Adults also felt that men who identify as women should not be allowed to use female-only spaces such as toilets and changing rooms if they have not had full sex-change surgery (67 per cent). And a staggering 73% said that children should not be able to change their names and sex in school records without parental consent.
‘Shameful legacy’
Marion Calder of For Women Scotland said ministers are “rushing into legislation with no regard as to the impact on women’s rights, and have completely forgotten as to why we sometimes need to separate spaces by sex”.
She added: “Allowing the teaching in schools of the ideology that it is possible to change sex will have far-reaching and damaging consequences for Scottish children, which the Scottish government will have to address in the not-too-distant future. Unless halted it will be their shameful legacy.”
SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who does not believe biological sex can be changed, said: “These poll findings are stark and demonstrate very significant public opposition to the government’s current proposals for self-identification of sex.”
Interference in family life
Prominent independent social worker Maggie Mellon said the Government’s proposals are “very out of step” with most people, adding: “Already over 50 teenage girls have been referred to England for mastectomies. These and puberty blockers and hormones are life-changing decisions that children should not be allowed to make.
“They have brought in policies like this by stealth and, I think, hoped that they could legislate without any real challenge. This is interference in children’s and families’ lives masquerading as progress.”
Lucy Hunter Blackburn, of MurrayBlackburnMackenzie, called the Government’s commitment to a self-declaration model “a significant shift”, adding: “This was surprising when the issue is so sensitive and given what was already known about levels of public support.”
She warned such polls “should give pause for thought to any political party which might be minded to whip its members in support of a Bill based on self-declaration”.
Consistent opposition
Last month, a poll conducted by Panelbase for political website Scot Goes Pop asked 1,001 over-16s in Scotland who they thought “should be eligible to legally change the sex or gender recorded on their birth certificate”.
Nearly 60 per cent of respondents chose options which excluded self-identification. Only 20 per cent agreed that it should apply to “anyone who makes a solemn declaration that they are living in their new gender”.
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