JK Rowling: Trans row MSP who quit is a heroine
HARRY Potter author JK Rowling has lauded the MSP who quit over moves to make it easier for transgender people to self-identify, saying: "This is what a principled politician looks like."
The SNP's Ash Regan stood down as Community Safety Minister in the Scottish government hours before a first vote on the proposals.
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She said her conscience would not allow her to back the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill at Holyrood.
JK, a vocal critic of the reforms, tweeted: "@AshtenRegan will rightly be seen as a heroine when future generations of Scottish women look back at the profoundly misogynistic legislation currently being pushed through."
The writer, 57, has previously tweeted a photo of herself wearing a T-shirt calling Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon a "destroyer of women's rights".
The Bill, nodded through its first stage by 88 votes to 33 last week, would remove the need to obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before seeking a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
It would also cut the time someone must live in their acquired gender from two years to three months, with an additional three-month reflection period. And the minimum age for obtaining a certificate would drop from 18 to 16.
Campaigners fear women and girls could be put at greater risk if the Bill becomes law - particularly with the lack of safe spaces for them.
But Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison argued in Holyrood it would make it "more respectful of the privacy and dignity of trans men and women".
