The UK Government’s decision to veto a bill passed by the Scottish Government, which would make it easier for children older than 16 to legally change their gender, has set off something of a political storm (a great summary can be found over at Spectator by Iain MacWhirter).
Whilst this certainly has ramifications for UK-Scotland political relations, it also has set off a series of debates about gender identity, the rights of women, and even what the bill actually would mean in practice (on this, I note Joanna Cherry QC’s argument that the bill may have ran into trouble even in a fully independent Scotland).
Without a doubt, these debates are some of the most difficult to navigate in contemporary politics - and also some of the most heated. So we sat down to try and make sense of it all.
On this episode of the Podcast of Ideas, my colleague Alastair Donald speaks to Susan Smith of For Women Scotland - the heroic campaigning organisation who have been defending the rights of women which are often undercut by legislation aiming to protect trans people.
Then, I joined Alastair along with Ella Whelan and Rob Lyons to mull over some of the implications in a bit more detail. I hope you enjoy the discussion, and find it useful.
Gender wars: Is the Government right to veto Sturgeon's self-id bill?