Pauline McNeill: ...is that he wrote to health boards in October of this year, noting that he had been “asked questions about the processes and policies Scottish hospitals use when managing inpatient admissions of transgender patients to NHS inpatient services”, and that “some Boards … have clarified that there is currently no specific protocol for management of this patient group.” However, there...
Pauline McNeill: ...services to the population. In a helpful briefing, Stonewall outlined some of the important purposes of the bill as being to enable us to have authoritative data on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; to assist local authorities in meeting their statutory requirements, which change over time; and to inform the planning of service provision to advance LGBT equality. The data can...
Pauline McNeill: ....” I am grateful to Engender for an excellent briefing on the issue. As others have said, it is important that people can feel comfortable about answering questions on sexual orientation and transgender status. It is right that the proposed questions are to be voluntary, which is reflected in the committee’s agreement on that issue. I am pleased that the committee took on board the...
Pauline McNeill: ...moved on substantially from that time, but we cannot forget what happened. My final point is that 37 per cent of United Nations member countries have laws that discriminate against lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex people. We have not had a chance to discuss that discrimination. In fact, lesbians are not really mentioned in the legislation, but perhaps that is a matter for...
Pauline McNeill: ...Myanmar, which should be condemned worldwide as ethnic cleansing. There is a great deal to focus on in the coming parliamentary year: inclusive education in our schools, transphobia, the rights of transgender people, tackling disability discrimination in employment and smashing the barriers that prevent women from equal and fair representation in all levels of their professions, whether...
Pauline McNeill: ...is simply asking for schools to be inclusive by talking about sexual orientation, so that young people grow to learn and understand that it is perfectly okay to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and that they will get the support that they need, whatever that is, to make any decisions that they need to make. That is why it is important that there is counselling in schools. Those of...
Pauline McNeill: ...Government will not rush to legislate for the sake of it? Nonetheless, as other members have highlighted, there are some areas that Lord Bracadale should consider for review. Social attitudes to transgender people have improved, but they still face acute prejudice, and we know that there is severe underreporting of transphobic hate crimes. Does the minister agree that that may be an area...
Pauline McNeill: ...of discussing the equality agenda with Tim Hopkins from the Equality Network. He reminded me how far we have come on lesbian and gay equality but also how far we still have to go in respect of transgender and bisexual people. I thank the Equality Network and the whole third sector for the work that they do every day not just to promote equality but to provide basic support in the fight for...
Pauline McNeill: ...couple jointly go to court and the court grants the divorce because it is sought before one party can acquire their new gender. However, life is not like that. A second scenario is where the non-transgender spouse cannot defend a divorce action—they can do nothing about it. I do not believe that the bill addresses that question. A third scenario is where the non-transgender party is...
Pauline McNeill: .... Robin Harper, Kate Maclean and others on the Equal Opportunities Committee have consistently argued that something should be done, so what should we do? In a recent survey of 920 lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people, 79 per cent had suffered verbal or physical abuse and 20 per cent had suffered physical abuse. Those are quite staggering figures. One of the problems is that the...