Scottish Court Says People Can Self-Identify Gender On Census

Scots will now be able to identify however they like on the 2022 census, regardless of their legal or medical status.

The campaign from Fair Play for Women, who instigated a legal challenge against self-identification, had unsuccessfully argued that individuals must answer the question about gender in the census “truthfully” and that the truthful answer would be defined by gender on their birth certificate.

Lord Craig Sandison ruled that there is “no general rule or principle of law that a question as to a person’s sex may only properly be answered by reference to the sex stated on that person’s birth certificate or GRC [Gender Recognition Certificate]”.

Lord Sandison ruled that provided the answer to the sex question on the census was given in “good faith and on reasonable grounds”, it could not be considered fraudulent or false, even if the individual selected a gender they were not legally classified as.

Fair play for Women said it was “disappointed by the judgement and will be requesting an urgent appeal”.

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