London blocks Scotland's reform for trans people
London blocks a Scottish law for the first time: the reform for trans people falls to a veto from Westminster.
On 17 January 2023, the British government resorted to a measure that had never been used since the Scottish Parliament was founded. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack signed an order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act. This meant that a law already passed in Edinburgh could not be submitted to the King for royal assent. It was stopped before it could take effect.
At its core, it was about the recognition of trans people. The Scottish Parliament had passed the reform shortly before Christmas by eighty-six votes to thirty-nine. Anyone wanting to change their legal gender would no longer have needed a medical diagnosis. The minimum age was to fall from eighteen to sixteen, and instead of two years, three months of living in the acquired gender would have been enough. Scotland would thus have followed the self-identification model that Ireland and Denmark have had for some time.
London argued that two different recognition systems within the same state would undermine British equality law, for example with regard to single-sex facilities or equal pay. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called it a "full-frontal attack" on the democratically elected parliament. She had already warned that London was using trans people as a political weapon.
Edinburgh went to court and lost. At the end of 2023, the Court of Session ruled that the British government had acted lawfully. The Scottish government decided not to appeal. Since then, the rules from 2004 have continued to apply, requiring a medical diagnosis and a long waiting period.
The case shows how closely queer politics and constitutional questions can be intertwined. A debate about legal gender turned into a fundamental dispute about how much room for manoeuvre a part of the United Kingdom really has.