The UK-Scotland drama on trans rights for dummies
A constitutional showdown, a scary trans prisoner, and the First Minister’s resignation
So much drama! It is becoming difficult not to have an opinion on trans issues these days. The UK-Scotland showdown on self-attestation might be a much more manageable topic in diner conversation than the New York Times trans coverage, gender-affirming care for minors, or trans participation in sports. I equip you some background information.
The toxic UK debate
If you are in the UK right now, you know there has been a long, convoluted, and somewhat artificial debate between women's and girls’ need for single-sex spaces and a system of gender recognition aligned with international human rights standards. The discussion is often encompassed in the “JK Rowling controversy,” in which the author of a bunch of books I never read claims that:
“ [The LGBTQ+] movement […- is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it” (see here).
The debate blew up last week when Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has been in power since 2014, announced her resignation this Wednesday over – among other issues, as pointed out in this NPR piece - the constitutional showdown on the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill and the “Isla Bryson prisoner scandal.”
October: the vote on the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill
The Gender Recognition Reform Bill was voted on by the Scottish Parliament on 27 October 2022 and passed by a majority of 88 to 33. It changes the process of getting a gender recognition certificate (GRC) by eliminating the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which can be costly and challenging. Applicants above 18 are allowed to be recognized in their “acquired gender” after three months of living in it; 16- and 17-year-olds need to wait six months. This is a shift from the previous system in which people had to provide two medical reports and live in their “acquired gender” for two years.
January: UK invokes Section 35 of the Scotland Act to block it
As a response, the UK Government invoked for the first time the power of section 35, which was included in the Scotland Act, which established the Scottish Parliament (see the UK Government’s statement here on January 17th), to block the bill. Under section 35 of the Scotland Act, a UK secretary of state can stop an account if they have reasonable grounds to believe it would hurt legislation reserved for Westminster. The reason for this unprecedented constitutional move, well, echoes the JK Rowling theory.
“The [UK] Government shares the concerns of many members of the public and civic society groups regarding the potential impact of the Bill on women and girls.”
February: the Isla Bryson situation
Recently it came to light that a transgender prisoner called Isla Bryson was found guilty of two counts of rape committed in 2026 and 2018 at the High Court in Glasgow in January 2023 and had been incarcerated in a women’s jail, albeit in segregation. After an assessment, Bryson, who had committed the crimes as a man called Adam Graham and has scary tattoos, was transferred to a male unit. It was all over the news (just google search “Isla Bryson”). Talk about timing. Sturgeon became entangled in the resulting row and public outcry, contributing to her resignation.
So who is right?
Let’s first note that the Gender Recognition Reform Bill is in line with precise guidance from the United Nations Human rights office (OHCHR), the only global authority on human rights: as outlined in a set of recommendations issued in a 2015 report and the UN Free & Equal campaign (see here):
“The United Nations has affirmed the right of trans persons to legal recognition of their gender identity and a change of gender in official documents, including birth certificates, without being subjected to onerous and abusive requirements.”
Victor Madrigal, the U.N. Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, also articulates the topic exceptionally well: “Trans persons are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations when their name and sex details in official documents do not match their gender identity or expression” (see here). He reiterated his support for the Bill in a statement to parliament (see here) in November, which pitted him against Reem Alsalem, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Violence against Women and Girls
Similar laws to the proposed Scottish "self-attestation" model for changing one's gender were ironically approved in Spain two days ago and are already in place in 22 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
The Predators’ argument is manipulative and hurtful to trans people.
It is ludicrous to frame trans people as predators transitioning to carry out rape in single-sex spaces. It is also a slippery slope to requiring castration for legal recognition, a human rights violation prevalent around the world. This is also reminiscent of the US myth of “bathroom predators,” which was prevalent until republicans became obsessed with medical care for minors. I might get beaten for these comments, but there will always be sexual predators. It is akin to denying gay men the right to teach because of suspicions of them being pedophiles – which was an argument for a long time against equality. As Madrigal pointed out:
“At the moment, 350 million people live in systems of legal recognition based on self-determination, and there is not, to my knowledge, one single administrative or judicial finding that this system is abused by predatory males,"
On the other hand, this omnipresent rhetoric dehumanizes the most marginalized among us. This week, my post about the mistreatment of transgender start-up CEO Jessica Bussert in a Wyndham property in Pittsburgh went viral (see here). Her ordeal can be directly linked to the political manipulation of trans issues.
How do we always lose control of the narrative?
We constantly find ourselves on the defensive when instead, we should always bring back the debate to the question of dignity and fairness for trans people. Whatever our beliefs are, we can all agree that as a society, when trans people tell us, and they very often do, “it was either I transitioned, or I killed myself,” we must find ways to accommodate it in a manner that provides dignity and fair opportunities.
Unfortunately, we get dragged into complex topics such as participation in sports, predators in bathrooms, surgery on minors, and medical malpractice, which are scary to the general public because we have not been framing the narrative.
Where do we go from here?
The Scottish debacle should be a wake-up call for some LGBTQ+ organizations that are often more interested in mediatic coups that feel good and increase fundraising – as we saw this week - than careful campaigning which genuinely changes hearts and minds. The International Transgender Day of Visibility 2023 will be held on Friday, March 31st. Let’s ensure the topic of dignity is front and center.