This Trans Prisoner Has Divided Britain
Rishi Sunak said he can "understand the concerns" surrounding the case.Bryson first appeared in court in 2019 as Adam Graham, having decided to transition sometime in 2020.
Giving evidence last week, she said she knew she was transgender aged 4, according to the Press Association.The Scottish Prison Service told the Press Association it decides where to send transgender prisoners "on an individualised basis, informed by a multi-disciplinary assessment of both risk and need."Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who leads the devolved SNP administration, told BBC Radio 4 that "there is no automatic right for a trans woman convicted of an offense to go to a women's prison."This idea that because somebody, who of course may have committed crimes as a man, but then tries to change gender simply to avoid going to a man's prison, there is no such automaticity around that," Sturgeon added.Scotland has a devolved government, which means it is able to set many of its own laws on a localised basis, in the same way a U.S.
state might. The Bryson case comes amid a wider rift surrounding the devolved government's recent passing of legislation that would simplify the process for trans people to obtain a gender-recognition certificate without a doctor's approval.While the move has been welcomed by transgender campaigners, the legislation was blocked from receiving royal assent—the process of the British monarch King Charles III rubber-stamping bills so they can become law—by Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, who reserves the power to stop devolved legislation if it is deemed to impact on laws elsewhere in the U.K.The national government argues that the gender reforms in Scotland would allow for a person to be two different.
