The Scottish Government will finally table legislation at Holyrood today making it easier for people to change their legally recognised gender.
Social justice secretary Shona Robison is to give a statement to MSPs about the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
The legislation was first mooted as long ago as 2016 by Nicola Sturgeon and has prompted furious debate on social media ever since.
Ministers claim the current process for someone to change their legal gender takes too long and is too invasive.
But campaigners argue that self-identification will change who can enter women-only spaces.
The bill is likely to pass as it formed a key plank of the SNP and Greens power-sharing agreement agreed last year.
The legislation will reduce the time that applicants for gender recognition need to have lived in their acquired gender and removes current medical requirements.
Work on the Bill was paused due to the covid pandemic, delaying it until after the May 2021 election.
Ministers say the legislation will improve the lives of trans people and ensure they do not have to go through a “degrading” process to be legally recognised in their gender.
Ahead of the statement, Scottish Conservative MSP Megan Gallacher said: “Women’s rights must be paramount in the debate over GRA reform.
“We recognise the case for improving the system and we will constructively scrutinise the Government’s proposals when they come forward.
“However, we will also be clear that any improvements to the process for trans people must not come at the expense of women’s rights or women’s safety.
“We hope the Government will listen and respect the views of women who feel very strongly that their rights may be eroded if the SNP get this legislation wrong.”
In February, a Savanta ComRes poll found 57 per cent of Scots support the idea of making it easier to acquire a gender recognition certificate for people who identify as transgender.
However, just five per cent of people said they follow discourse on the issue “very closely”, with 31 per cent saying they follow it “quite closely”.
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