SCOTLAND is set to become one of the first countries in Europe to give legal recognition to people who are neither male nor female.
Nicola Sturgeon pledged to reform gender recognition law to "bring it into line with international best practice," if the SNP returns to power after the May 5 election.
The pledge signals the law will be changed to recognise people who are neither male nor female, known as "non-binary gender".
They will be able to change their birth certificate to recognise their gender status and use it on official documents such as passports.
The reforms will also allow transgender people, who switch from the gender recorded at birth, to change their birth certificates without having to seek approval from a tribunal of lawyers and doctors, as at present.
A third change will give legal recognition to transgender young people under the age of 18. In future, 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to change their birth certificate with the permission of their parents.
Campaigners warmly welcomed the pledge and urged other political parties to follow suit.
However, it was condemned in the strongest terms by the Free Church of Scotland.
"It is a policy that will bring untold disaster and harm upon Scotland's children," said Free Kirk moderator, the Rev David Robertson.
Around 300 people in Scotland identified themselves as non-binary gender in a recent survey conducted by the Equality Network campaign group.
However, the group believe the true figure could be 10 times higher.
A "gender fluid" teenager, Gaela Hanlon, described some of the problems facing non-binary people during a speech to the SNP conference earlier this month.
They said they had experienced bullying at school and had been "stumped" by filling in a form asking whether they were male or female.
The reforms will make Scotland only the third country in Europe, after Denmark and Malta, to recognise people who are neither male or female.
Around the world, the status is accepted in Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Argentina.
In India, 490,000 people described themselves as "third gender," at the country's last census.
Campaigners said the reforms marked a step forward from the existing Gender Recognition Act, which was seen as groundbreaking when it was passed in 2004.
Prior to the Westminster legislation, which was adopted by the Scottish Parliament, transgender people were unable to change their birth certificates.
Ms Sturgeon announced the plans during an election debate on equalities issues.
She also promised new guidelines for teachers and extra training on hate crime for police.
She said: "Tolerance, respect, inclusion – these are attitudes and principles we want to encourage and foster in modern, fairer Scotland."
James Morton, manager of the Scottish Transgender Alliance, welcomed the end to "intrusive" medical checks for transgender people who wished to change their birth certificate.
Nathan Gale, of pressure group Non-Binary Scotland, said: "By making a commitment to reform gender recognition law the Scottish Government is ensuring that all trans people, no-matter what their gender identity, will be able to be themselves, in all aspects of their lives.
"Trans people who don’t identify as men or women have just as much right to have the gender they identify as recognised and respected as everyone else.
"I hope that the next Scottish Government will truly aspire to international best practice and provide for a third gender, alongside male and female, to be recognised in Scottish law."
The Free Kirk moderator, the Rev David Robertson, said: "The SNP seem to be working on the unproven and somewhat bizarre notion that children get to choose their own gender and sexuality.
"We believe that this will result in confusion and brokenness amongst our children rather than fulfilled potential.
"It is a policy that will bring untold disaster and harm upon Scotland's children."
He added: "What is to stop someone deciding to change gender if they think it will enable them to further their careers and job prospects?
"This is nothing less than state-sponsored indoctrination of the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society."
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel