Men who say they are women have slammed plans to let people in Scotland ‘self-identify’ as the opposite sex as ‘naïve, misguided and simplistic’.
Members of the SNP have also raised serious concerns with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Last month, The Sunday Times reported that the Scottish Government had delayed reforms to gender recognition laws.
Weakens safeguards
In a letter to Nicola Sturgeon, a number of transgender women expressed their opposition to self-declared sex swaps.
The letter states: “We are deeply concerned about naïve proposals to weaken safeguarding protections in a misguided attempt to support a simplistic notion of inclusion.”
“When women do protest they are accused of bigotry and transphobia, and dehumanised as Terfs.”
‘Terf’ stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist and is frequently used as a term of abuse against women who deny that it is possible to change sex.
Unpopular
The group added: “We are writing to you to express our solidarity with women who have aired reasonable concerns and been attacked for doing so.”
SNP MP Mhairi Black recently accused women of “misogyny” for wanting to exclude men from female changing rooms.
But last month The Sunday Times reported that several SNP figures are worried that changing the law to make it much easier for people to change legal sex will prove unpopular with the public.
Delay
A consultation paper is now expected, which could delay the proposed Bill from becoming law until after the Scottish elections in May 2021.
Cabinet Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville told Holyrood that she was “acutely aware of how divided opinion is”.
She said that the Government would only push ahead with its plans once it had gained “maximum consensus”, and had properly addressed “valid concerns”.
She added that legislation would not be tabled until there had been “a full consultation on the precise details”.
Damaging proposals
The Christian Institute was among those cautioning against change when the Scottish Government carried out its initial consultation on gender recognition reform.
Deputy Director Ciarán Kelly said MSPs were “clearly taken aback by the level of hostility” to the “damaging proposals”.
“The Scottish public, especially women, are firmly opposed to allowing people to change legal sex more or less on demand”, he added.