Scottish door to abuse?

In the New Year, a major UK human rights body issued a stark warning to the Scottish Government, urging it to pause its plans to ‘reform’ the gender recognition process.

Scottish Ministers had been saying for a while that they were resolute in their intention to introduce the changes. But the Equality and Human Rights Commission said more consideration was needed. Concerns were raised about the societal impact of a rushed law.

Warnings ignored

Then, last month the Scottish Government ignored the warnings and just went ahead and introduced its Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. If passed, big changes will be introduced, making the process of securing a gender recognition certificate much easier.

It was back in 2004 that MPs and Peers approved the Gender Recognition Act (GRA). It allowed people to choose to live in their chosen gender, ignoring, if they so wished, the sex that was on their birth certificate. Under the terms of the Act, a person would need to demonstrate they were 18+, have lived in their ‘acquired gender’ for two years and intended to do so for the rest of their life.

Two medical reports were needed, one confirming a gender dysphoria diagnosis and another setting out any transition-related medical treatments. These documents would be presented to a Gender Recognition Panel who would decide whether to approve or deny.

Trans campaigners argue this process is too slow and can take up to five years. The Scottish Government’s Bill would essentially allow people to self-ID. All you’d have to do to change gender is sign your own certificate, live as your chosen gender for three months, then wait a further three for a ‘reflection period’, then the change is made permanent.

Abusing the system

You can quickly see why campaigners are so alarmed. Under the banner of ‘simplification’, you open the door wide to possible abuse. Feminist groups are deeply worried that the move will allow violent men, with suspect motives, to abuse the system and access women-only spaces like changing rooms, lavatories or prisons. While the Bill carries penalties for anyone caught cheating the system, it’s highly unlikely these will stop abuse from happening.

But step back for a moment. There’s a sense in which the specific details of the Bill, though troubling enough, are incidental to the deeper issue. The GRA itself was an act of rebellion against orthodox, Biblical teaching. It was an attempt by lawmakers to ‘play god’ by creating, in their own image, a parallel version of reality where biological sex can be changed.

What else should we expect from a society that has so resolutely turned its back on God? Objectively, it is very clear that there are two biological sexes. God gives life and God decides what sex each life will be. This is the simplistic, but necessary truth.

Of course, in a fallen world, things go wrong. Gender dysphoria is a real and horrible reality for a small minority of people. But our response from a policy point of view – alongside genuine compassion of course – should not be to make changing gender easier. Ultimately, this harms rather than helps.

When you drop God, you lose common sense and restraint as well. Romans 1 teaches that, on account of a society abandoning the Lord, He gives them over to a depraved mind. This is playing out, in multiple ways, across our land.

I’ve deliberately not touched more on the importance of compassion in helping people with gender identity struggles – not because it isn’t important, but because so often we fail to be clear about the basics, drowning ourselves in a thousand caveats.

We must be clear. God made them, male and female. The Scottish Government Bill undermines this non-negotiable reality. Sadly, a heavy, heavy price will be paid.