A prominent supporter of Nicola Sturgeon’s trans reforms has said Scotland should “explore” allowing eight-year-olds to declare their own legal gender and that she believes humans may be able to change biological sex.
Maggie Chapman, the Green Party MSP and her party’s equalities spokeswoman at Holyrood, also refused to rule out supporting handing primary school children the ability to vote as she was challenged on her views on the controversial legislation.
Allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to change their legal sex by signing a declaration, without parental consent, is among the most controversial aspects of Ms Sturgeon’s proposed overhaul of gender laws in Scotland.
Ms Chapman, in an interview with the broadcaster LBC, confirmed that she backed lowering the age limit further in future, saying some people knew “well before they were 16” that they were transgender.
Asked whether she believed an eight-year-old should be empowered to change their own legal gender, she said: “I think in principle, we should be exploring that”.
Asked whether she thought eight-year-old children should be allowed to vote, she said: “We should actually look at how young people in general are treated across society”.
UK Government blocks reforms
Rishi Sunak’s government has confirmed it will veto the Holyrood gender legislation, due to concerns that making it significantly easier to change legal sex for people born or resident in Scotland will interfere with UK-wide equalities law and risk women’s safety and rights.
Ms Chapman, an influential figure in the debate due to Ms Sturgeon’s coalition pact with the Greens, has branded the UK Government’s move a “shocking new low” and “an attack on trans rights and democracy”.
During Holyrood debates on the legislation, Ms Chapman claimed that human sex is not “binary and immutable”. Many trans rights activists claim that trans women are literally women.
Challenged over the assertion by LBC’s Tom Swarbrick, Ms Chapman suggested that she could not be certain about her own sex as she had never had her own chromosomes tested.
When it was put to her that no human had ever changed their biological sex, the north east Scotland MSP said: “I’m not actually sure we can say that because we don’t have the chromosomal make-up of every single human being. We don’t know that.
“Do you know what your chromosomes are? I’ve never had mine tested, I don’t know what mine are. Only when they are displayed in different ways can we actually make those kinds of judgements.”
She added: “I think it’s very, very clear that when we talk about sex being binary in GCSE or O-Level biology textbooks that is a gross oversimplification of what is going on.”
Gender law ‘first step’ in wider overhaul
Ms Chapman, a former co-leader of the Scottish Greens, is paid a salary of £66,662. The Scottish Greens, who have seven MSPs including two ministers, have made the overhaul of trans laws a red line in their coalition deal with the SNP.
The changes, voted through in December, would allow Scots to change their legal sex simply by signing a declaration, under a self-identification system.
The need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria to obtain a gender certificate would be removed while the time in which a person would have to live in their “acquired gender” would be cut from two years to as little as three months.
The Greens have said that the gender law is only a first step in a wider overhaul of trans legislation in Scotland. The party has said it will ensure legislation for a ban on so-called “conversion therapy” for trans people will be published this year.
The UK Government on Monday said it would issue a Section 35 order – a device never before used in the history of devolution – to stop Ms Sturgeon’s gender law coming into force.
The orders can be issued in cases where the UK Government has “reasonable grounds” to believe that Holyrood legislation would have an “adverse effect” on the operation of laws reserved to Westminster, in this case equalities legislation.
Explaining the move, Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, said he had concerns that the reforms could have “chilling effects on single-sex spaces” for women.
He also warned of “significant complications” from having different processes for obtaining a GRC in different parts of the UK
Author : Daniel Sanderson
>and that she believes humans may be able to change biological sex.
Mmmm no
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So, 16. Now 8. How long until its 4? then 2?… One small step at a time i guess
6 comments
A prominent supporter of Nicola Sturgeon’s trans reforms has said Scotland should “explore” allowing eight-year-olds to declare their own legal gender and that she believes humans may be able to change biological sex.
Maggie Chapman, the Green Party MSP and her party’s equalities spokeswoman at Holyrood, also refused to rule out supporting handing primary school children the ability to vote as she was challenged on her views on the controversial legislation.
Allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to change their legal sex by signing a declaration, without parental consent, is among the most controversial aspects of Ms Sturgeon’s proposed overhaul of gender laws in Scotland.
Ms Chapman, in an interview with the broadcaster LBC, confirmed that she backed lowering the age limit further in future, saying some people knew “well before they were 16” that they were transgender.
Asked whether she believed an eight-year-old should be empowered to change their own legal gender, she said: “I think in principle, we should be exploring that”.
Asked whether she thought eight-year-old children should be allowed to vote, she said: “We should actually look at how young people in general are treated across society”.
UK Government blocks reforms
Rishi Sunak’s government has confirmed it will veto the Holyrood gender legislation, due to concerns that making it significantly easier to change legal sex for people born or resident in Scotland will interfere with UK-wide equalities law and risk women’s safety and rights.
Ms Chapman, an influential figure in the debate due to Ms Sturgeon’s coalition pact with the Greens, has branded the UK Government’s move a “shocking new low” and “an attack on trans rights and democracy”.
During Holyrood debates on the legislation, Ms Chapman claimed that human sex is not “binary and immutable”. Many trans rights activists claim that trans women are literally women.
Challenged over the assertion by LBC’s Tom Swarbrick, Ms Chapman suggested that she could not be certain about her own sex as she had never had her own chromosomes tested.
When it was put to her that no human had ever changed their biological sex, the north east Scotland MSP said: “I’m not actually sure we can say that because we don’t have the chromosomal make-up of every single human being. We don’t know that.
“Do you know what your chromosomes are? I’ve never had mine tested, I don’t know what mine are. Only when they are displayed in different ways can we actually make those kinds of judgements.”
She added: “I think it’s very, very clear that when we talk about sex being binary in GCSE or O-Level biology textbooks that is a gross oversimplification of what is going on.”
Gender law ‘first step’ in wider overhaul
Ms Chapman, a former co-leader of the Scottish Greens, is paid a salary of £66,662. The Scottish Greens, who have seven MSPs including two ministers, have made the overhaul of trans laws a red line in their coalition deal with the SNP.
The changes, voted through in December, would allow Scots to change their legal sex simply by signing a declaration, under a self-identification system.
The need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria to obtain a gender certificate would be removed while the time in which a person would have to live in their “acquired gender” would be cut from two years to as little as three months.
The Greens have said that the gender law is only a first step in a wider overhaul of trans legislation in Scotland. The party has said it will ensure legislation for a ban on so-called “conversion therapy” for trans people will be published this year.
The UK Government on Monday said it would issue a Section 35 order – a device never before used in the history of devolution – to stop Ms Sturgeon’s gender law coming into force.
The orders can be issued in cases where the UK Government has “reasonable grounds” to believe that Holyrood legislation would have an “adverse effect” on the operation of laws reserved to Westminster, in this case equalities legislation.
Explaining the move, Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, said he had concerns that the reforms could have “chilling effects on single-sex spaces” for women.
He also warned of “significant complications” from having different processes for obtaining a GRC in different parts of the UK
Author : Daniel Sanderson
>and that she believes humans may be able to change biological sex.
Mmmm no
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[removed]
So, 16. Now 8. How long until its 4? then 2?… One small step at a time i guess
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