CD (Portland) — Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared that her government will challenge the United Kingdom in court after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government acted to veto a recently-passed LGBT rights bill—a move that critics say will harm sexual minorities, imperil national unity, and represents fuel on the fire for the culture war.

Weeks after the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh, passed its Gender Recognition Reform Bill, UK Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack announced that the London-based national government was, for the first time, going to invoke Section 35 of the 1998 Scotland Act to veto the legislation, arguing the bill deals with a matter “reserved” for British Parliament in Westminster.

This move is widely seen as a slap in the face for the Scottish National Party (SNP), which holds about half the seats in Holyrood and is leading the campaign for Scotland to leave the United Kingdom and to become an independent state within the European Union.

The bill at the center of the controversy would lower the age to sixteen at which people can apply for a gender recognition certificate. Moreover, applicants would no longer need to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria in order to apply for a certificate, and people eighteen and older would have to live as their gender identity for only three months in order to be recognized. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds would need to live as their gender identity for more then six months.

In defending the central government’s intervention, Jack claimed that Scotland’s legislation would make fraudulent applications more likely—even though the bill would make lying about one’s gender identity on an official application punishable by up to two years in prison.

SNP parliamentary leader Stephen Flynn responded by accusing Sunak’s government of “seeking to stoke a culture war against some of the most marginalized people in society.”

Along the same lines, Sturgeon declared, “If there is a decision to challenge, in my view, it will be quite simply a political decision and I think it will be using trans people–already one of the most vulnerable, stigmatized groups in our society–as a political weapon. And I think that will be unconscionable and indefensible and really quite disgraceful.”

Speaking to the BBC, she added that the Sunak government is making a “profound mistake” and pledged to “vigorously defend this legislation… In short, we’ll be defending Scottish democracy.”

Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, called the central government’s decision a “nuclear option,” and judged that the rejection of Holyrood’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill represents “a real deterioration in respect for the ability of people of Scotland to self-determine.”

Additionally, many observers questioned why it was this particular issue which provoked the unprecedented veto.

Some argue that Sunak’s underlying intention is to shore up support for his government from the political right, a constituency which has long been skeptical of his fitness to lead the Conservative Party.

It is clear that many in the rightwing media, at least, are expressing approval.

For example, Nile Gardiner, a former aide to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and contributor to The Telegraph argued: “if the Conservatives surrender to the woke left on trans issues they may as well abandon the name Conservative Party. Conservatives must stand on conservative principles and defend traditional values.”

Supporters of sexual minorities, however, are also speaking up.

Nadia Whittome, a Labour Party MP representing Nottingham East, tweeted that “the Conservatives are attacking the devolved power of the Scottish Parliament and trans people by preventing the Scottish gender recognition act from becoming law. So desperate to find wage culture wars they’re willing to imperil our constitution and attack minorities… Trans rights are not a side issue. And trans people deserve a government that stands with them.”

Originally published at Common Dreams. Republished by cc by-sa 3.0. Edits for style and content.

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