One of the UN’s leading voices on gender identity and LGBTQ+ rights has endorsed Scotland’s Gender Recognition Act reforms, which will be voted on next week. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, said: “Legal recognition of gender identity is a human right and self-identification is the appropriate standard for it.” The bill passed the first stage of voting with 88 Scottish politicians voting in favour, and only 33 voting against it. The legislation amends the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to introduce a new process to obtain gender recognition certificates in Scotland, which would remove barriers for trans people to change their gender identity on official documents.