This article talks about how judges in the UK government are allowed to block Scotland or gender ID reforms. “In Scotland, the government let people legally change their recognized sex last year.” (Sim) But the UK government says it would impact equality. The people who voted against the Scottish bill say it will harm the women and girls in same-sex spaces, which is like how it is in the U.S. They say in spaces like hospital wards and refugees. They may think that things that are specifically supposed to be for cis men and cis women will be taken from them and given to trans individuals. Support for this bill will say it makes it easier for people who want to change their gender to get a legal certificate to show that they have, and it will be less traumatic for trans people.
There are a few components to the bill that are talked about. “It will remove the medical label of gender dysphoria that is put on these people by doctors.” (Sim) This is an interesting point in the bill because this is needed to change their legally recognized sex. This means that if the doctor doesn’t deem the person in the criteria for gender dysphoria, then they are not able to be legally recognized. Also, the age that a person can apply for has been cut down from 18 to 16. One of the most significant changes is that it brings down the time to live the acquired gender from two years to three months.
There are back and forth that have come out about this bill. The Scottish government said that the UK government illegally rejected the bill. But when it got taken to the judge, she said the block was lawful, and the UK government took the correct steps to block the bill. One of the UK legislators says that “the Scottish legislature needs to stop wasting taxpayers’ money” (Sim). The opponents of this bill think that there is already a bill that covers the protection and freedom of women and transgender people. Ant this new bill will negatively affect the Equality Act of 2010. The Scottish minister will try to repeal the block to see if the bill can go through.