The U.K. government will block Scotland from implementing a new gender I.D. bill. This bill was voted into law in Scotland last month.
This bill would lower the age of people who can legally change their gender on their birth certificates from 18 to 16 and remove the requirement of a medical diagnosis for gender dysphoria.
This is the first time the U.K. has blocked a law in Scotland because it affects U.K. laws. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack says that he is doing so due to concerns about how the law would impact “the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.”
The Scottish law is controversial because, critics say, that it would put single-sex spaces for women at risk. Secretary Jack said that the law could affect the rights to run “single-sex clubs, associations and schools, as well as rules on equal pay for men and women.” He says that he will entertain an amended bill in the future.
