Scotland may pass transgender legislation

• Scotland may enact gender rules that make changing a person’s registered gender easier.
• The Gender Recognition Reform Bill will abolish the gender dysphoria diagnosis requirement.
• It would lower the minimum age for applicants to 16 and reduce the period required to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months.

The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill will remove the necessity for a gender dysphoria diagnosis to get a certificate (GRC).

It would also decrease the minimum age for applicants to 16 and shorten the time required for an applicant to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months (or six for those aged 16 and 17).

MSPs will discuss the last of the 153 stage three changes yesterday before a final vote today.

Protesters shouted “shame on you” when a proposal to make it difficult for sex offenders to get a GRC was voted rejected.

The Scottish Tories looked to be trying to make proceedings last as long as possible by tabling four amendments to the agenda, forcing a vote on the timeline for amendments, raising a further motion for MSPs to vote on, and multiple points of order – all before the debate on the amendments began.

The party voted on amendments even when the proposer didn’t.

One of Holyrood’s most contentious laws since devolution.

Opponents worry about its impact on women and girls’ safety, but the Scottish government insists it won’t affect the Equality Act, which permits trans individuals to be barred from single-sex spaces like changing rooms and shelters.

The measure, which has backing from the SNP, Greens, Labour, and Lib Dems, might generate disciplinary difficulties within the SNP after seven MSPs voted against it and two others abstained at stage one.

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