Scotland's chief minister begins his tenure with a legal fight with London over Scotland's 'trans law'

The legal battle launched by the Scottish Government against the British Executive's decision to veto the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Act is a risky gamble for Scotland's new Prime Minister, Humza Yousaf.

Barely two weeks after replacing Nicola Sturgeon at the head of the Executive, the new president has launched into a far-reaching constitutional fight: the Yousaf government will appeal the blockade of London before the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh, the highest civil court in Scotland, as reported by the Scottish Administration in a statement on Wednesday.

The British Government, led by the conservative Rishi Sunak, paralyzed last January the regulation approved by the Scottish Parliament.

To do this, Sunak resorted to the power granted to him by the Scotland Law of 1998, the text that established self-government in this territory.

Since then, it is the first time that London has used this mechanism and has exercised it against the Scottish

, ratified in December;

legislation that deeply divided Yousaf's formation, the Scottish National Party (SNP), in addition to implying a high political cost for its predecessor.

London argues its decision to block the Scottish reform in its potential impact on the whole of the United Kingdom, since it considers it "highly problematic" to have two different systems within the same country.

With the challenge to the blockade, the main minister of Scotland takes the opportunity to emphasize state interference in what he considers his powers, although in practice this decision exposes him to a compromised contest that could further complicate his landing in the can.

Yousaf was the only one of the three candidates in the recent SNP primaries who had supported taking legal action to overturn the British government's veto.

In January, London's blockade of the norm gave wings to the then administration of Nicola Sturgeon, Yousaf's predecessor, who, in addition to describing it as an interference, linked it to the coveted independence, one of the founding bases of the SNP.

Yousaf had made it clear during the primary campaign that he would only launch a legal challenge if he had a chance of success.

And although former members of the Supreme Court, such as Justice David Hope, have publicly declared that the chances of victory are very low, Yousaf has finally opted for the appeal.

Hence the decision is a bold move for a leader who is still trying to define his personal stamp, after the departure of Nicola Sturgeon, who has dominated the Scottish political scene for a decade.

The margin for Yousaf was limited, since the term to promote actions against the London decision expired last Monday and, despite the division that the reform generated - and generates - in the SNP, Yousaf was aware that the alliance with Los Greens, keys to the government, could collapse if it did not maintain the iron defense of gender regulations.

In addition, the chief minister had already marked his position before coming to power with a campaign in the SNP primaries very focused on vindicating the social policies promoted by Sturgeon.

On the other hand, Yousaf assumes that a constitutional battle with London never hurts the nationalist constituency.

The problem, however, goes beyond politics, in a complex and delicate matter, which already irritated a considerable sector of the SNP base when the norm was promoted.

The Gender Recognition Act seeks to facilitate gender change in Scotland.

To do this, it suppresses the requirement of a medical diagnosis of dysphoria so that trans people can obtain legal recognition of their gender.

In addition, the legal age to request a change of sex would go from 18 to 16 years and to obtain the legal change it would only be necessary to have spent three months living under the self-determined gender.

Shortly after its approval, in December, the case of Isla Bryson, who had changed gender after being arrested for raping two women, caused deep controversy in Scotland when it emerged that she was in a women's prison, a decision that would end. reversing.

In addition, a survey recently published in the

reveals that only 18% of Scots thought Yousaf should launch a fight in court, compared to 44% who thought it better to abandon the reform.

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