Good morning, everyone. For nearly two decades, the Gender Recognition Act 2004 has provided a route to legal recognition for trans people. However, evidence shows that the process can be lengthy, invasive and demeaning. Since the act was introduced, the World Health Organization has recategorised gender identity health, and has made it clear that being transgender is not a mental ill health condition and that classifying it as such can cause distress.
Only around 6,000 people—of an estimated half a million trans people in the United Kingdom—have a gender recognition certificate. The aim of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill is to reform the process to bring it more into line with current understanding and international best practice, and to remove barriers to trans people accessing their existing rights.
I know that there are deeply held views on transgender issues, and I appreciate that reservations about the bill are often connected with legitimate concerns about the violence, abuse and harassment that women and girls face in our society. As I have said before, trans people are not responsible for that abuse, and often face it themselves. I am also aware that many people view the reforms as being vital and overdue.
It is important to focus on the reforms that are contained in the bill as introduced, and to be very clear about what the bill does. It will introduce a new process for obtaining a GRC, which is open to people who were born or adopted in Scotland or are ordinarily resident here. It will remove the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, reduce the minimum period of living in the acquired gender from two years to three months while introducing a new three-month reflection period, and lower the minimum age for applying from 18 to 16.
The process of obtaining a GRC will remain a serious and substantial undertaking. Applicants will still have to make a statutory declaration that they are currently living in, and intend to live in, their acquired gender for the rest of their lives. Under the bill, offences relating to making a false application carry potential penalties of up to two years in prison.
Based on international comparison, we estimate that the number of Scottish GRCs might rise from around 30 to between 250 and 300 a year. That is what the bill will do.
I know that there has been some misunderstanding about what the bill will not do, and I also want to be very clear on that. The bill will not change the protections that are set out in the Equality Act 2010. It will not change the exceptions in that act that allow single-sex services to exclude trans people where that is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, including where those trans people hold a GRC.
The bill will not change or remove women’s rights. It will not make changes to how toilets and changing rooms operate. It does not redefine what a man or a woman is, and it does not change or expand trans people’s rights. The bill will not change the effect of a GRC, which is that the individual is legally recognised in their acquired gender.
The bill will not change the policy or laws of England or any other country; it is for other Governments and Parliaments to decide how GRCs are recognised in their jurisdictions. The bill will not change the way that gender identity healthcare is provided or make changes to public policy, including national health service patient care. It will not alter practices for collecting or processing data, including data relating to crimes. It will not change the way that Scottish prisons accommodate the people in their care, and it will make no changes to women’s sport, whether professional, amateur or in schools.
As the committee has already heard, the development of the bill has involved some of the most extensive consultation that has ever been undertaken by the Scottish Government. I have personally met a wide range of interested parties, and I know that the committee has also heard from a wide and varied group of organisations and individuals during its scrutiny sessions.
Some of those people support the bill. Others are opposed to it, and I am aware that I am unlikely to change their minds with anything that I have to say today. However, that does not mean that I have not listened to and considered their views, just as the committee will have. I commend the respectful and considered manner of everyone involved in the process.
I remain of the view that the reforms that are set out in the bill strike an appropriate balance in improving access to important human rights while providing a robust and serious process that is not to be undertaken lightly. Nonetheless, I look forward to hearing the views of the committee at the end of its stage 1 consideration, based on the evidence that it has heard. I am happy to take questions.