This is a law that promised to be historic, but has just been blockedand a political earthquake shaking Scotland. The British government led by Rishi Sunak blocked a law passed in December 2022 by the Scottish Parliament on Monday 16 January 2023. And not just any law: a measure of parity, progressive, aimed at facilitating the change of marital status for trans people, including children under 16 and by abolishing or shortening some administrative procedures.
British ministers fear a “negative impact” on all equality measures in the UK. Scottish minister Nicola Sturgeon complained to “frontal attack” against the Scottish Parliament and its “ability to make decisions”and warned: “If this Westminster veto is successful, it will only be the first. »
On Tuesday, January 17, UK Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan defended the UK government, saying there can be no “two contradictory laws on gender and equality”as in fact Scotland has just reformed the Gender Recognition Act which has been in force since 2004.
LGBTQI+ associations react to the blockade
For the British organization Stonewall, this unprecedented gesture is heartbreaking:
“The UK government should focus on developing and implementing a strategy to make the lives of LGBTQ+ people, including trans people, better, not worse. »
Same anger with activist Peter Tatchell for whom Westminster “falsely claiming that the Scottish Gender Change Recognition Act breaches the UK’s Equality Act” : ” This is not the case. It is a crude excuse to attack trans rights and Scottish democracy. »
As Scots law aims to facilitate the administrative procedures for changing one’s marital status by making it possible to obtain one’s Gender Recognition Certificate (RCMP) without requiring a medical diagnosis, met the usual discussions and moral panic of those who argue that this measure endangers women.
These transphobic activists say facilitating the change of marital status poses a threat because it would allow men to pass themselves off as women and thus infiltrate certain places, especially bathrooms or changing rooms. It’s about accusing trans women of being male cross-dressers and potential aggressors. A fallacious demonstration already demolished by the transfeminist collective Tous des femmes:
“While assaults by trans women or cross-dressing men remain a hypothesis, the figures show another reality: Men do not need to use such subterfuge to commit assaults, they already do it without the need to cross-dress. Furthermore, the desire to control who is a “real woman” is already leading in some places to quarrels and hardships for all women, cis and trans, especially lesbians, who do not correspond to the canons of femininity. »
The government also feared that the law would cause a form of administrative tourism where trans people would go to Scotland to change their marital status, as there would be two systems in place providing the famous GRC, one faster and less complex than the other.
The eternal transphobic argument for the protection of women
Among the most media voices opposing the Scottish law is, without too much surprise, JK Rowling, who caused a sensation last autumn by posting a selfie where she wears a t-shirt accusing Nicola Sturgeon of wanting to destroy women’s rights. Just that.
Following this attack, Nicola Sturgeon recalled that the law is only meant to do that “reform an existing process that is demeaning and traumatic for trans people, to make it less traumatic for people who want to legally change their gender” :
“It no longer gives rights to trans people and it does not take anything away from women. It is men who attack women and we need to focus on this issue, not stigmatize and discriminate against a very small group in our society who are already one of the most stigmatised. »
An argument that resonates all the louder as a story is currently making headlines in the UK: a London police officer has admitted to perpetrating dozens of rapes and sexual assaults over the course of several years. His status as a police officer allowed him to gain the trust of the women he met.
Photo credit: Matt Hrkac via Flickr
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Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
