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Scottish survey on gender recognition bill update

(230 Posts)
Aveline Tue 24-May-22 09:13:18

I note that 30% of respondents were from outside Scotland. GRA activists?

Granny23 Tue 24-May-22 09:02:34

It is not surprising that that the Anti GRA respondents out numbered those in favour as this was not an opinion poll with a carefully balanced panel, but rather an opportunity for those with serious concerns to express their reservations. There were many posts on my facebook groups urging people to respond negatively, very few posts urging support. The Unionist press (always, of course, opposed to anything proposed by the SNP or Greens) was full of scare stories, whilst my own straw poll amongst relatives and friends indicated that they were mostly not interested, one way or the other, because the issue had never affected their lives.

Elegran Tue 24-May-22 08:55:08

Exactly what a lot of people were saying in their survey replies!

I hope this result is taken seriously, not swept under the carpet in the fashionable rush to allow trans "women" to legally become their inner fantasies without also adapting their outer and all too real bodies. Humans are solid flesh and endocrinology as well as psychological inner identities.

Germanshepherdsmum Tue 24-May-22 08:36:43

Only having to live in their acquired gender for three months rather than two years, and no requirement for a medical diagnosis? That would be a rapist’s passport to women’s spaces.

Elegran Tue 24-May-22 08:21:09

www.holyrood.com/news/view,gender-recognition-over-half-of-survey-respondents-oppose-changes

"A survey – which generated 10,800 individual responses – found 59 per cent of people opposed the bill, while 38 per cent supported it.

More than 60 per cent of respondents felt the government should not remove the requirement for a medical diagnosis to obtain a gender recognition certificate, though around a third supported such a move.

Similarly, just over 60 per cent of people felt the period a person must live in their acquired gender should not be reduced from two years to three months, while almost 40 per cent supported the change.

Among those opposed to the bill, respondents were concerned that “predatory males” would use reforms to the system to “gain access” to women’s spaces, including prisons, hospitals and refuges.

They also feared the “erosion of women’s rights” and “unintended consequences”.

However, those in favour of the bill said it would provide trans people with the “rights they deserve”, and stated that simplifying the process would make it "more straight forward" and less “intrusive” and “traumatic”.

Some of the people who support the legislation called for it to go further, with suggestions ranging from the legal recognition of non-binary people (those who identify as neither male nor female) or allowing under 16s to obtain a gender recognition certification if they have parental consent.

The equalities committee will consider these survey responses, as well as over 800 longer written submissions, as it takes evidence from stakeholders over the coming months.

The legislation is broadly expected to pass as a majority of MSPs have expressed support for the reforms."