Stage Three of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill starts tomorrow (Tuesday 20^th December) with a debate and vote on amendments suggested by MSPs to the Bill. You will be able to watch the proceedings live on Parliament TV: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/

This starts the final part of the Bill’s 9 month journey through Scottish Parliament, which followed on from a 4 year consultation period, one of the longest in Holyrood history.

The reforms proposed by the Bill would make it easier for trans men and women in Scotland to change the sex on their birth certificate, and were supported by an overwhelming majority of MSPs at the Bill’s first vote at the end of Stage One, as well as by many LGBT+, feminist, and human rights organisations in Scotland and around the world.

Tomorrow’s proceedings will see MSPs meet in the chamber from around 3pm to debate and vote on the 140+ amendments to the Bill proposed by MSPs. These would change the details of how the reform works if it becomes law, and come after the Bill has already undergone one round of amendments at Stage Two.

Due to the large volume of amendments, we expect this to last quite a long time, and it may not finish until after 10pm.

MSPs who proposed amendments are given an opportunity to explain why their suggested change is important, which other MSPs can respond to, and this will likely take up the majority of the session.  MSPs will vote amendment by amendment on which changes they support, and any which pass by a majority will be added to the text of the Bill.

Amendments are discussed and voted on in a slightly different order.

The “groupings” (which you can read here) are the order in which amendments are discussed, and group them based on which aspect of policy they relate to (e.g. “applications by 16 and 17 year olds”).

The “marshalled list” (which you can read here) is the order in which amendments are voted on, and goes through where the amendments would sit within the bill in text order.

It can be quite confusing to keep track of which amendment is which, what they do, and what has been approved (especially if this comes after several hours of debate!) so we will share the full list and a short analysis on Wednesday morning.

Following this session, on Wednesday 21^st December at around 3:30pm, MSPs will have a final debate on the Bill as a whole, and this will be followed by a final vote on whether the Bill should become law, at around 5.45pm.

If you are able to make it to Edinburgh tomorrow morning, we will be holding a rally outside Parliament at 10am to show MSPs that there is wide support for the Bill, and to deliver hundreds of postcards from people across Scotland who support its reforms. You can read more about this event on our Facebook page, and this should be visible even if you don’t have an account: https://www.facebook.com/events/550159013232376/

If you can’t make it, please take 2 minutes to email your MSPs using our website to let them know why you think they should vote for the Bill: http://scottishtrans.org/email-your-msps

For updates on the proceedings of this final stage, and to see the result on Wednesday night, follow us on social media here:

https://www.facebook.com/scottishtrans.org

https://twitter.com/ScottishTrans