Can we have an honest debate about gender?

This article is about gender and the law. When I asked several friends, politicians and journalists, about writing it, they all said the same: don’t. It will go badly for you. And that is why I’m writing this. In fact, that’s what I’m writing about: fear. The fear that persuades some people they can’t say what they think about something, or even ask questions about it. Fear that prevents proper discussion of public policy and the public interest. Fear that chills debate.

I’ve been a journalist for 20 years. I belong to no party and I have no allegiances or affiliations. I don’t have an agenda or an axe to grind. I just think this is important and I’m worried the law on the recognition of gender is not being debated properly: when should state and society consider a person to be a woman or a man? What about people who wish to change the gender they are recognised as having? Mostly, for reasons largely beyond my scope here, that means people who were in the past recognised (in law) as men, and who wish now to be recognised as female.