Labour offers to meet JK Rowling for ‘assurances’ on women’s rights

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Labour has offered to meet J.K Rowling to provide her with “assurances” over the protection of women-only spaces.Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, made the offer after Rowling said at the weekend that Labour had “abandoned” her and others campaigning for women’s rights.

The author, a former member of the Labour Party who has made donations to them in the past, said she would “struggle to support them” in next week’s General Election.Ms Rowling has become known as a fierce advocate for the rights of biological women after speaking out against Scottish Government proposals to introduce self identification for transgender people.

While gender recognition reforms were passed by Holyrood, the legislation was never implemented after being blocked by the UK Government.Now reports suggest a Labour government could make it easier for people to legally transition by removing the need for them to prove they have lived as their preferred gender for two years.

The Times newspaper reported this will be replaced with a two-year “reflection period”, with the party also set to drop the number of doctors needed to approve a person’s gender recognition certificate – which recognises them in their preferred gender – from two to one.Ms Reeves, however, insisted protection for single sex spaces for women would “absolutely stay”.Speaking as she campaigned in Scotland, Ms Reeves said: “We’re not going to be changing anything around biological sex.