Perthshire Pride is “committed to working with all people” in the region after legislation to make it easier for individuals in Scotland to change their legally recognised gender was passed by MSPs at Holyrood last week.
The Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill cleared its last hurdle on Thursday after three days of debate at Scottish Parliament.
Members voted by 86 votes to 39 in favour of the reforms – which will remove the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before obtaining of a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
The polarising proposals will allow trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate by a process of self-declaration.
The changes will also drop the minimum age for applying for such a certificate from 18 to 16, and bring down the time a person is required to live in their acquired gender.
However, opponents of the bill have said it could endanger women and girls and put single-sex spaces at risk.
Nine SNP MSPs defied Nicola Sturgeon to vote against the legislation, including Perthshire South and Kinross-shire representative Jim Fairlie.
Among those to vote against was also Labour Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Claire Baker, who does support a simplification of the process for applying for a GRC and voted in favour of the general principles of the bill at stage one.
She explained: “However there were a number of areas where I felt the legislation needed to be improved and I brought forward amendments at stage two and three.
“I have remaining concerns about the issues raised by the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls and do not believe these have been addressed.
“Throughout the bill process I have engaged with a wide range of opinion and scrutinised the legislation to ensure it was fit for purpose but in the end the bill was not sufficiently amended to enable me to support it.
“The bill doesn’t provide the clarity needed for maintaining single sex services, which is legal under the Equality Act, and I continue to have concerns that these are at risk of continuing in a way that is transparent for service users.”
Following the announcement, a spokesperson for Perthshire Pride said: “We are please this has passed through Scottish Parliament.
“It has been a long time coming.
“Some have been campaigning for the last eight years and it is fantastic it has passed.
“We are still aware that their is division but we are optimistic for the future.
“We are still committed to working with all people within Perth and Kinross, and listening to different ideas to make it the best place for LGBTI+ people to live and work.”
The UK Government could prevent the legislation becoming law by blocking Royal Assent and has also not ruled out mounting a legal challenge.
“We know there will potentially be a legal challenge from the UK Government and it is clear we still have work to do to convince them,” the Pride spokesperson added.
“We will have to be ready for that if that happens.”
Mark Ruskell, Green Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, called the passing of the reform a “historic step for equality”.
