Labour backs down on gender self-ID and will not follow SNP’s law change

Chairman Anneliese Dodds accused the party of a ‘cavalier approach’ and its proposed safeguards for women and girls were ‘not up to scratch’

Source - Daily Telegraph 24 July 2023

Link 

Labour has backed down on gender self-identification as the party confirmed it will not follow Nicola Sturgeon’s ill-fated trans law.

Party chairman Anneliese Dodds insisted “sex and gender are different” and that a formal diagnosis would still be needed for transgender people to receive treatment on the NHS.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, previously pledged to change the law to allow trans people to self-declare their gender – echoing plans by Ms Sturgeon, which were vetoed in Westminster, to allow anyone over the age of 16 to self-identify without consulting a doctor.

Ms Dodds admitted in an article for the Guardian that Labour’s new position, which is expected to be taken forward into the general election, would “not please everyone” amid a backlash from her party.

“The requirement to obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria remains an important part of accessing a gender recognition certificate,” she wrote.

“We need to recognise that sex and gender are different – as the Equality Act does. We will make sure that nothing in our modernised gender recognition process would override the single-sex exemptions in the Equality Act.”

Ms Dodds accused the SNP of a “cavalier approach” to self-ID, adding: “The safeguards that were proposed to protect women and girls from predators who might abuse the system were simply not up to scratch.

“As a result, the Scottish Government is still picking up the pieces, with trans rights no further forward.”

She reaffirmed Labour’s commitment to reforming the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) to make it easier for Britons to transition.

This would involve gender dysphoria being diagnosed by one doctor, in a break from the current setup which involves a panel of anonymous clinicians.

Sir Keir had promised the LGBT community in 2021 that he would take similar action to Scotland on self-ID in England and Wales if elected, telling PinkNews: “We are committed to updating the GRA [Gender Recognition Act] to introduce self-declaration for trans people.”

After the row triggered by Ms Sturgeon’s legislation, Sir Keir said “99.9 per cent of women… haven’t got a penis” and called for a “reset” of the transgender debate i Scotland.

Last month saw shadow domestic violence minister Jess Phillips urge the party to protect single-sex spaces in an apparent challenge to her leader.

Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, has spoken of feeling “cold-shouldered” in the party over her gender-critical views, likening the experience to a past abusive relationship.

Scottish Labour distanced itself from Ms Dodds’s remarks with Richard Leonard, the MSP for Central Scotland, writing on Twitter: “Scottish Labour’s position on this is clear.

“We support self-ID for trans people and oppose the UK Government’s attempt to block the necessary reform we voted for.”

Paul O’Kane, the Scottish Labour social justice spokesman, said his party “continues to support the de-medicalisation of the process in Scotland”.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader who whipped his MSPs to support the SNP’s legislation, remained silent on the issue on Monday.

In a statement, the LGBT Labour pressure group said: “It is very concerning that the Labour Party are signalling a retreat on their policy of medicalised self-ID for the trans community at the next general election.”

However, Labour Women’s Declaration, a Left-wing gender-critical group which was refused a stall at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool last year, welcomed “the shift to support clarification of the definition of woman in the Equality Act and abandonment of self-ID”.