The new rules will lower the minimum age that people can apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) from 18 to 16.
They will also remove the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
And anyone applying for a GRC will now only need to have lived in their acquired gender for three months - or six months if they are aged 16 and 17 - rather than two years.
For context, a Gender Recognition Certificate allows you to do the following:
- Update your birth or adoption certificate, if it was registered in the UK
- Get married or form a civil partnership in your affirmed gender
- Update your marriage or civil partnership certificate, if it was registered in the UK
- Have your affirmed gender on your death certificate when you die
It'd be weirdly satisfying if this was the issue that catalyzed Scottish independence.