In the same week as the 35th anniversary of the rainbow flag, stonewall riots 44th anniversary, the US Supreme Court strike down of DOMA, Australia's passage of a Intersex inclusive bill (1st ever) comes news for the transgender community in Scotland.
Scottish transgender people who wished to change gender markers legally were first required to divorce and resubmit a application for a civil partnership which was reserved for same sex couples. This process was stressful, costly and time consuming.
Under the new The Equal Marriage Bill, to be published today transgender people wishing legal gender recognition will no longer be forced to divorce first, however if a trans person wishes to divorce a interim certificate would be issued during the process. The full Gender Recognition Certificate(GRC) will not be issued until the divorce process is complete unnecessarily delaying transition.
The Scottish Transgender Org. posted to facebook voicing their objection to Gay Star News misquoting them about the bill writing "We have NOT "applauded the bill for being tight and clearer" and have asked Gay Star News to remove that erroneous line.
The Alliance commented almost immediately "Gay Star News have just apologized to us and confirmed they will correct the article. Gay Star News has always made some erroneous lines in their rush to report and ingratiate themselves in the LGBT news business. They did so with the homeless MSM issue here in Jamaica aided and abetted by local voices
some time ago and after several concerns expressed the article remains up to date. Other advocates and voices worldwide have been expressing some concerns about the efficacy of the GSN see more HERE for that, in the meantime
The article now reads:
Nathan Gale, a Development Worker for STA, said: ‘We are delighted that the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill has been launched today.
‘We are particularly pleased that transsexual people will no longer be forced to divorce in order to have their gender legally recognized.
‘There are some outstanding issues for transgender people which we will continue to press with the Scottish Parliament and Government. But this is a substantial step towards equal marriage rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.’
According to the Scottish Transgender org mailer:
What the bill means for married transgender people where they and their spouse wish to continue their marriage:
• An application to the gender recognition panel is made
o To confirm that the couple wish to remain married, a statutory declaration will be submitted by the trans person’s spouse stating that they consent to the marriage continuing after gender recognition
• If the application is successful a full Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) will be issued
• The Gender Recognition Panel will send a copy of the GRC to the Registrar General for Scotland
• Regulations will be made by the Registrar General for issuing a suitable additional revised marriage certificate to the couple (showing new name and gender)
What the bill means for married transgender people where either/both they and/or their spouse do not wish to continue their marriage:
• An application to the gender recognition panel is made without any statutory declaration from the spouse
• If the application is successful an interim Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) will be issued
• Either the transgender person or their spouse can initiate divorce using the interim GRC
• Once the divorce is completed the interim GRC is replaced with a full GRC
We are concerned that this process could lead to unreasonable delay in the granting of a full GRC if the spouse is uncooperative and seeks to delay the divorce process.
We will be pushing to prevent such unreasonable delays being possible.
What the bill means for civil partnered transgender people:
There will be two recognition routes for civil partnered transgender people to select from.
First option:
• An application is made to the panel and an interim gender recognition certificate is issued
• The couple either change their civil partnership into a marriage or dissolve their civil partnership
• The interim gender recognition certificate will be replaced with a full GRC
Thanks also to planet transgender for the heads up.
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