Nicola Sturgeon has clashed with Harry Potter author JK Rowling over her Government’s plans to make it easier for people to legally change their gender.
The First Minister said she “fundamentally disagreed” with the writer over claims the draft legislation would harm the most vulnerable women in society.
The SNP /Green Government last week published plans which would simplify the process for trans people to change gender.
If passed, it would reduce the time a trans person would have to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months, followed by another three-month reflection period.
The Bill will also lower the age trans people will have to be to obtain a gender recognition certificate and scrap the requirement for a medical diagnosis.
But critics fear the plans could lead to a loss of women-only spaces – such as refuges, hospital wards, toilets and changing rooms – which could then impact on women’s safety.
JK Rowling yesterday criticised the proposed law in a tweet: “The law @NicolaSturgeon 's trying to pass in Scotland will harm the most vulnerable women in society: those seeking help after male violence/rape and incarcerated women.
“Statistics show that imprisoned women are already far more likely to have been previously abused.”
Asked by the BBC about the claim, Sturgeon said: “I fundamentally disagree with that and, of course, the rules haven't yet changed. The legislation was introduced to Parliament last week, and it will now go through a full legislative process with all the normal parliamentary scrutiny.”
On whether she believed MSPs should be given a free vote on the issue, she hinted SNP members could be whipped: “All of the MSPs in my party were elected on a manifesto commitment to do this. So whether or not it's a free vote is a decision for my parliamentary group.”
She said of the planned law: “This is about a process, an existing process, by which people can legally change their gender, and it's about making that process less traumatic and inhumane for trans people, one of the most stigmatised minorities in our society.
“It doesn't give trans people any more rights, doesn't give trans people one single additional right that they don't have right now. Nor does it take away from women any of the current existing rights that women have under the equalities act.”
On whether the proposal changed anything about safe spaces for women, she said: “No it doesn't.”
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