Yesterday (21st June), myself, Dr. Peter Dunne (UoB), and Dr. Chris Dietz (University of Leeds), appeared to give evidence before the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights, and Civil Justice Committee.
This is my (brief) opening statement from the Committee.
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Committee members, thank you for the opportunity to appear here today. I will be brief.
I am an international human rights law scholar, specialising in gender identity and the law. On that basis, I fully recommend a self-identification basis for the Gender Recognition Act reform.
I have worked on global and regional gender recognition law mapping and analysis. I co-wrote three editions of the ILGA World Trans Legal Mapping Report. Most recently I have completed an analysis of gender recognition laws in Europe, to be published next year.
The international movement in gender recognition law is toward depathologisation and self-identification. A non-medical, non-judicial, purely administrative process is the only approach endorsed by the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
Legal gender recognition should be accessible, affordable, and depathologised.
Legal gender recognition on a basis of self-declaration has already been acted in countries as diverse as Malta, Denmark, Argentina, and my own home jurisdiction of Ireland. Although highly polarised concerns have been aired in the UK around the possibility of allowing for self-identification, they have not played out in those countries.
There has not been abuse of the process or an unexpectedly large number of applications. There have not been widespread reports of abusive use of the process by cisgender men to access women’s spaces such as changing rooms or bathrooms. There has not been a sea-change in the number of cisgender women selected for sports teams.
Trans people know their own minds. They do not take the decision to transition, be it legally, socially, or medically, lightly. Young trans people too can be trusted to make their own decisions, especially if supported by their families. It is unfair to make them choose between pathologising their nature and respect for their autonomy.
The law needs to respect the human rights to dignity, equality, privacy, and autonomy. Scotland needs to respect its trans citizens. On that basis, I recommend that the Committee considers self-identification as the best option for legislation.
Sandra Duffy 