MSPs set for mammoth 9-hour debate on gender recognition legislation

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Kezia Dugdale has accused opponents of gender reforms of using "populist tactics" as MSPs prepare for a mammoth nine-hour debate.The former Scottish Labour leader said the debate around the legislation has "been driven by and riven with fear".Writing in a newspaper column she said: "Sadly, facts have been absent from much of this debate, which instead has fed on division and been driven by and riven with fear." MSPs will discuss around 153 amendments to the controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill today before a vote at Holyrood on Wednesday.

Scottish Labour Social Justice spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy has urged her colleagues to back changes in order for the Bill to work for everyone.It comes as the First Minister has been warned of a "travesty of democracy" if the debate on Stage 3 of the Bill is time limited.

Ahead of the session Social Justice Minister Shona Robison met with UK Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch on Monday where the pair discussed the topic.The Bill will make it easier for trans people to acquire a gender recognition certificate (GRC) by removing the requirement for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.It will also lower the minimum age for applicants from 18 to 16 and drop the time required for an applicant to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months - six for people aged 16 and 17 - though with a subsequent three-month reflection period.Dugdale added: "This is classic populism, where for one to be strong another must be weak; for one group's rights to be enhanced another must be diminished; that I cannot be a feminist, a lesbian and still support trans rights.""While I have written previously about what this proposed legislation does and does not do, I have resisted