Scottish parliament removes transgender spousal veto from marriage equality bill

EDINBURGH, Scotland — Scotland Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee on Thursday unanimously approved an amendment to remove the spousal veto from the country’s marriage equality bill.

The amendment provides that married, transgender Scotlanders will no longer be required to obtain written consent from their spouse before they can get legal recognition of their gender identity.

Scottish advocacy group, The Equality Network drafted the amendment and it was and submitted by Linda Fabiani, Member of the Scottish Parliament from the ruling Scottish National Party.

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The will not merely secure genuine marriage equality for transgender and intersex people, but uphold the principle that access to gender recognition is a human right, according to Tom French at The Equality Network.

James Morton, manger of the Scottish Transgender Alliance, told LGBTQ Nation:

“The Scottish Parliament made an important stand for trans and intersex equality by voting to scrap the spousal veto on gender recognition,” James Morton, manger of the Scottish Transgender Alliance, told LGBTQ Nation. “After all the work we put in drafting and pushing for this amendment we couldn’t be happier that it got unanimous support.”

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“Scotland can now be proud that we have an incredibly progressive equal marriage bill that was well worth the wait in order to deliver true marriage equality for all,” he said.

Morton said he hopes the bill gets the strong majority “it deserves” when the final vote takes place next month

The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, which legalizes same-sex marriage in Scotland, is expected to pass its final vote at stage three in a matter of days.