The Times - Criminals will exploit loopholes in the SNP’s planned reforms to gender laws as an “invisibility cloak” to hide past offending, campaigners have claimed.

 

Tuesday May 17 2022

Criminals will exploit loopholes in the SNP’s planned reforms to gender laws as an “invisibility cloak” to hide past offending, campaigners have claimed.

Ministers plan to scrap the need to provide a medical diagnosis or a doctor’s approval note to apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC), as they argue the present system is too time-consuming and causes distress.

The policy group Sex Matters said that an unintended consequence of the proposed revisions were clauses that shielded criminals — such as those who have a record of money laundering or child abuse — as the legislation protects a person’s previous identity.

Maya Forstater, the group’s executive director, told The Daily Telegraph it would risk offering an opportunity to people “who want to conveniently sever the link between themselves and their past”. Easy access to the certificate could create “an extraordinary state-sponsored invisibility cloak, comparable to going into witness protection”.

The group raised concerns over the workplace criminal record checks proposed in the Gender Reform Act, which would be unique to individuals who changed gender to ensure their past identities are not disclosed to employers. Forstater said: “This means organisations will not be able to make use of their own information and safeguards. Organisations like the Scout Association keep their own databases which includes lower level concerns reported within the organisation.

Feminists threaten to sue Scottish government over gender recognition law

“But a GRC removes the ability to check whether a person already appears in the safeguarding database under another identity. Under the proposed new Scottish law the legal invisibility cloak would not only be awarded based only on a self-declaration but would come down at the point when a person applies for it.”

She said that “the risk of poorly conceived legislation enabling anyone with a year to spare to effectively craft their own identity disappearance scheme should not be dismissed”.

The Scottish Trans Alliance has also argued that revisions which will allow spouses and children of a person wanting to change their gender to object to them being recognised as transgender, was unreasonable. They said it “could mean trans men and trans women having to defend their identity and transition in court, for no reason other than a lack of acceptance by others”.

The government’s equalities, human rights and civil justice committee will this week take evidence from supporters of the bill including the Scottish Trans Alliance and Stonewall Scotland.

The Scottish government has said it will attach a criminal penalty to anyone who makes a false declaration to safeguard against abuse of the system.

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