CONTROVERSIAL proposals to reform the laws governing how people change gender are an attempt to “override science” according to a Glasgow MSP.

John Mason’s intervention comes days after the SNPs Haddington branch challenged Scottish Government guidance on how schools should respond if children say they wish to change gender.

Members wrote to MSPs claiming a “transgender ideology” was sweeping schools and guidance had been introduced to schools “apparently without any consultation, evaluation or risk assessment.”

Ministers have been consulting on reforms to the Gender Recognition Act which would mean someone who does not identify with the sex they were born into, must be automatically recognised as the gender they adopt.

Currently people can officially change gender, but only if they are diagnosed as suffering from gender dysphoria, have lived in their acquired gender for at least two years, and commit to living in their new gender for the rest of their life.

The Scottish Government has just published the consultation results on proposals which found that 60 per cent of people responding backed allowing people to change their legal gender by simple self-declaration.

But Mr Mason said that the fact the consultation responses had broadly supported the proposals did not mean Scotland as a whole had backed it. “That is nonsense. Scots have not backed anything,” he said. “[It] was a consultation, not a referendum.”

Mr Mason added: “Are we trying to override science by saying it is possible for males to become females and females to become males.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said there had been more than 15,500 responses to the public consultation, adding: “we will consider the views of consultees as we take forward our commitment to bring forward legislation on gender recognition.”