Scottish Government’s gender self-ID ‘concessions’ “barely scratch the surface of terrible Bill”, Christian charity warns

The Christian Institute is calling on the Scottish Government to address the fundamental dangers posed by its gender self-ID Bill instead of attempting to placate backbenchers with ‘minor concessions’.

Under the current law adults are able to change legal sex, but children are excluded. The Institute has been warning that by extending ‘sex swaps’ to 16-year-olds, whilst also removing the need for medical evidence and reducing the two-year waiting period to just three months, the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill will push more children onto the “transition conveyor belt”.

Incredibly, more than 150 amendments to the Bill have been tabled. Among them, Shona Robison, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, has proposed one to enable Sheriffs to block applications to change legal sex which they believe are fraudulent.

The Government is also reported to be “sympathetic” to SNP MSP Christine Grahame’s amendment to extend the waiting period for 16 and 17-year-olds before applying to change legal sex from three months to six.

But Ciarán Kelly, Deputy Director at The Christian Institute, said the public were not taken in by such minor concessions and warned MSPs not to be taken in either. He commented:

“What’s being proposed would barely scratch the surface of the deep-rooted problems with this terrible Bill. It further entrenches the false belief that it is possible to change sex and will cause even greater misery and confusion for children and their families.

“Children need protecting from radical gender ideology and the obvious and best thing to do is to remove 16 and 17-year-olds from the legislation completely.

“Detransitioners are bravely exposing how gender ideologues are exploiting social pressures and mental health problems, pushing people to identify as transgender.

“Dangerously speeding up the ‘sex swap’ process and replacing medical diagnosis with self-declaration will tragically push even more gender-confused young people onto the transition conveyor belt.

“These Government-backed amendments are being portrayed as ‘concessions’ but in fact are little more than window dressing.”

The warning comes after the SNP experienced its largest rebellion during its 15 years in power, when seven of its MSPs voted against the legislation and two abstained during the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill’s stage one debate in Holyrood.

Before the debate, Ash Regan resigned as Minister for Community Safety so she could vote against the Bill – the first time an SNP minister has ever stepped down over Government policy.

After resigning, Regan said her “conscience would not allow me to vote for a Bill where I could not be 100 per cent certain that women and girls would not be in danger”.

In October, the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee reported that it had received 10,800 individual responses to its “call for views” on gender recognition reform, of which the majority “disagreed with the overall purpose of the Bill”.

Concerns were raised by respondents about the protection of children and young people, particularly in relation to them making “life altering” decisions at such a young age that may involve sex-swap drugs and surgery.

Last month a poll of 1,018 voters in Scotland by Panelbase found that 62 per cent of participants opposed lowering the minimum age for sex swaps to 16, with only 19 per cent in favour. The plan to reduce the two-year waiting period to three months was backed by just one in four.