Today, the Sandyford Young People’s Gender Service, based at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, has announced that they will no longer be referring under 18s for endocrine treatments. This means people using the service will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers (which pause pubertal changes), nor will 16 or 17 year olds be prescribed testosterone or oestrogen (which have masculinising or feminising effects on secondary sexual characteristics). This follows a similar announcement by NHS England made last month on puberty blockers, and indeed goes further than the NHS England position by stopp ..read more

You may have seen that Dr. Hilary Cass has now published the final report of her review of NHS gender identity services for children and young people in England. We’re still reading and digesting the report, but wanted to share some initial thoughts. Overall, we’re pretty worried about what the report might mean for trans young people’s access to healthcare in England. We think it’s important to engage with the report thoroughly and thoughtfully though – and we’re sure that our thinking will develop as we’ve had more time to do so. Some points of agreement: We totally agree with Dr. Cass that ..read more

We are very disappointed that the Scottish Government has lost its court case against the UK Government’s use of a Section 35 order to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from reaching royal assent. All parties in the case agreed that it was not about the merits of the bill itself, and they agreed that the bill was within devolved powers. The court judgment is also not about whether or not the UK Government made the right decision in blocking the bill. It is simply about whether they have the power to do so, under section 35 of the Scotland Act. The court concluded that they ..read more

Seven national LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex) organisations in Scotland welcome the publication today of the Scottish Government’s Non-Binary Equality Action Plan. Scottish Trans, Equality Network, LGBT Youth Scotland, Stonewall Scotland, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, LEAP Sports and Time for Inclusive Education welcome that the Scottish Government has committed to taking wide-ranging actions across many areas of policy and practice. These could make a real difference to non-binary people’s lives. Non-binary people identify as having a gender which is in-between or bey ..read more

At 10am tomorrow (Tuesday 19th September) the Scottish Government’s case for judicial review against the UK Government’s use of a Section 35 order to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill will begin. The hearing will take place between 10am and 1pm, and then from 2pm until conclusion over the next three days, finishing on Thursday 21st. All three days of the hearing will be available to watch live online on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website here from 10am: https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/supreme-courts/about-the-court-of-session/court-of-session-livestream-hearin ..read more

Scottish Trans, part of LGBTI human rights charity Equality Network, have been granted permission to intervene in a legal case which is seeking to overturn the section 35 order issued by UK Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack MP, which is preventing the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from gaining royal assent and becoming law. The charity says that the Secretary of State’s block of an improved gender recognition process achieves nothing other than to “force trans men and women to continue to have to use an intrusive, difficult and expensive process simply to live their liv ..read more

This week is Non-binary awareness week, an international celebration of all people who don’t fully identify as women or men. To mark this week, we’ve put together 3 key things to know that you can share with family, friends, and colleagues.   What does “non-binary” mean? At the Equality Network, the definition we use for non-binary is: “Identifying as either having a gender which isin-between or beyond the two categories ‘man’ and ‘woman’, as fluctuating between ‘man’ and ‘woman’, or as having no gender, either permanently or some of the time.” Non-binary then roughly refers to anyone ..read more

The post Scottish Government granted permission in their case about the UK Government’s block of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill appeared first on Scottish Trans ..read more

We welcome the Scottish Government’s decision to challenge the UK Government’s veto of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The bill as passed would introduce a simpler and fairer way for trans men and women to be legally recognised as who they truly are, allowing them to live with the dignity we all deserve. It was passed by the Scottish Parliament by 86 votes to 39, with the overwhelming support of the SNP, Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems. That followed years of consultation, and lengthy Parliamentary consideration and debate. The bill covers matters that are devolved to th ..read more

The letters published on Tuesday between the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UK Government’s Women and Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch, make for pretty sombre reading. These letters reflect a pattern over the last few years of the EHRC and the UK Government either being totally disinterested in (or actively opposing) protecting, upholding and furthering the human rights and equality of trans people. We will undoubtedly say more over the coming weeks and months, particularly if the UK Government decides to pursue this course of action. For now, these are just proposals ..read more