Scotland passes bill making it easier for people to legally change gender

MSPs vote in favour of plans to allow people to legally change their gender through system of self-identification

Plans to make it easier and less intrusive for individuals to legally change their gender through a system of self-identification, extending to 16- and 17-year-olds for the first time, will become law in Scotland.

Six years after it was proposed by the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, following two of the largest public consultations in the history of the Scottish parliament and amid an increasingly toxic and polarised political discourse, the bill was passed by MSPs on Thursday in a specially extended session.