Scotland
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Sex Matters in Edinburgh
Friday 16th June 7pm to 11pm (venue to be announced) Sex Matters is coming to Edinburgh! We promised we’d hold an event in the constituency that got the most signatures on our petition to make the Equality Act clear. With a bit of help from a JK Rowling retweet,...
9th May 2023
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Charlie Falconer’s testimony
The Women and Equalities Committee held an evidence session on 31st January on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill and the Equality Act. It featured Robin White, Barrister at Old Square Chambers; Naomi Cunningham, Barrister at Outer Temple Chambers (and Sex Matters’ Chair); Dr Michael Foran Senior Fellow, Policy Exchange...
2nd February 2023
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Trans law is a ‘magic key’ for predators
Mark McLaughlin for The Times
Sex Matters Chair Naomi Cunningham is the legal expert quoted.
A legal expert has warned Scotland’s controversial gender laws will provide men “who cross-dress for erotic purposes” with a “magic certificate” to access women’s spaces. -
Female inmates do not trust Nicola Sturgeon to decide who is sent to female prisons
Ex-Cornton Vale Prison inmate Amanda Benson talks to Times Radio.
“Putting a double rapist into a female prison, I don't know what risk assessments they're doing to have these men in the prison.” -
Minister defiant over trans rapist Isla Bryson
Mark McLaughlin for The Times
Maya Forstater is extensively quoted. The article was later revised.
The Scottish justice secretary has refused to stop the imprisonment of rapists in women’s prisons after a party colleague accused a double sex offender of “gaming the system”. -
The UK government is right to challenge the GRR Bill
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has made an order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to prevent the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from receiving Royal Assent, and Sex Matters welcomes this. We are particularly pleased that the government has recognised that changing both the size and...
17th January 2023
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Statement on the UK government’s decision to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill
We are very pleased that the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland have decided to use their constitutional powers to stop the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from going to royal assent. As we wrote in our briefing on the Bill and its implications for the...
16th January 2023
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Stonewall is scaremongering: write to your MP
Stonewall has been sending out alarmist emails to MPs which misrepresent the law. On 9th January Kemi Badenoch, the Minister for Women and Equalities, announced that the government would be updating its list of approved overseas countries and territories for gender-recognition certificates. She explained: “There are now some countries and territories...
13th January 2023
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Why Scotland’s self-ID bill should be referred to the Supreme Court
The UK Government has to decide what to do about Scotland’s Gender Recognition Bill by 19th January. There has been quite a bit of legal commentary about using the power of Section 35 of the Scotland Act (read Michael Foran’s and Joshua Rozenberg’s pieces). Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has...
6th January 2023
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Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and the UK
This paper, prepared by Sex Matters, considers whether the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (GRR Bill) is within the competence of the Scottish Parliament, examines the bill’s potential adverse effects and sets out considerations for a challenge under Section 33 or Section 35 of the Scotland Act.
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SNP’s Gender Reform Bill part of a ‘disturbing trend’ and UK Government must step in
Maya Forstater for the Scottish Daily ExpressMaya Forstater of sex-based rights campaigners Sex Matters shared her views on the transgender trend for the Scottish Daily Express.
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Risks in the final rush to legislate self-ID in Scotland
The Scottish government’s plans to allow anyone from age 16 upwards who is ordinarily resident in Scotland to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) without any medical assessment are due to be voted on by the Scottish Parliament tomorrow, 21st December. The vote comes barely a week after the...
20th December 2022
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UN expert calls for an “act of compliance”
On Friday 16th December Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, sent an extraordinary letter to the Scottish Government claiming that “legal recognition of gender identity” via self-identification is an “international human rights imperative”. He has now...
18th December 2022
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Labour should call for a pause before voting on the gender recognition bill in Scotland
Sex Matters has sent an urgent open letter to Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, and Jackie Baillie MSP, calling on Labour MSPs to demand more time to consider the implications of the Haldane opinion before voting on the Gender Recognition Reform bill (Scotland). The Labour Party,...
16th December 2022
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Julia Hartley-Brewer furious as Cambridge Dictionary redefines ‘woman’
Live from the TalkRadio studio on Talk TV
The Cambridge Dictionary has changed its definition of woman to include men who identify as women.
Julia Hartley-Brewer reacts to the news with Maya Forstater.
5:48 on YouTube. -
![The word ‘biological’ does not appear in the definition [of female in the Equality Act]. It would have been entirely open to the drafters of the legislation to put the matter beyond doubt by including that adjective or descriptor, but they did not. Lady Haldane, FWS Judicial Review 2022](https://sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Scottish-FWS-review-3.png)
Scottish court rules that sex is about paperwork, not biology
A judgment handed down on 13th December in the Scottish court of session highlights the importance of a Sex Matters campaign to persuade the UK government to clarify the meaning of sex in the Equality Act 2010. SIGN THE PETITION TODAY The ruling concerns the meaning of “woman” in...
13th December 2022