Transgender issues in the law, politics, sport, and the impact on children
On Monday* we learned that Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) issued in Scotland might not be accepted in England and Wales. Last month Scotland passed its contentious Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which means that anyone over the age of 16 can legally change their gender after three months, even if they don’t have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
Mermaids was once, not long ago, the darling of the charity world: Starbucks sold Mermaids-branded cookies and famous faces including Emma Watson queued up to support the transgender organisation. But 2022 was the year Mermaids hit the rocks. The Charity Commission launched an inquiry into Mermaids last month after identifying concerns about its management. The charity which, a few years ago, could do no wrong in the eyes of corporations and policy makers faces an uncertain future. Despite what Mermaid’s dwindling band of supporters might say, this is good news.
MSPs were up until the early hours last night* at Holyrood debating amendments to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland Bill). Make no mistake, this is an exceptionally bad piece of legislation in the making – though it might have been less bad had a few more of those amendments been accepted by Nicola Sturgeon’s government.
Un collectif de personnes transsexuelles s’est adressé à Reem Asalem — la rapporteuse spéciale des Nations Unies sur la violence contre les femmes, ses causes et ses conséquences — à propos de sa récente intervention concernant les propositions du gouvernement écossais sur la Réforme de la reconnaissance du genre (gender Rcognition Reform). J’ai organisé cette démarche. Voici l’intégralité de notre lettre.
Why do we need a Women’s Officer anyway? Wind back the clock about 35 years, and that question might have provoked 20 minutes of debate in the student union bar. But while certain disgruntled male students might have moaned about the glaring absence of a men’s officer, never did we call for the women’s post to be abolished. Not seriously, anyway.
A group of transsexuals wrote to Reem Asalem – the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences – regarding her recent intervention on the Scottish Government proposals for Gender Recognition Reform. The letter was organised by me. Here is our letter in full,
Chelsea Manning, who leaked hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic records about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to Wikileaks, is revered by some. ‘The biggest hero that ever lived,’ says Vivienne Westwood. To others, like Donald Trump, Manning is an ‘ungrateful traitor’ who should still be in jail.
Debbie Hayton