There is a 'generational divide' over proposed transgender law changes and woman are more supportive than men, a poll found.

Some 2,038 Scottish people aged 16 and over were interviewed online between 7th and 25th January 2022 on a range of questions related to transgender issues. 

The transgender debate has been a hot-button issue in recent years, with the Scottish government committing to make it easier for trans people to have their chosen gender legally recognised. The Gender Recognition Action Reform bill is expected to come before the Scottish Parliament early next month.

The survey for BBC Scotland suggests a general sympathy towards trans people accompanied by uncertainty and hesitation around the details of the changes.

On almost all the questions there was a clear age divide, with the under 35s much more inclined to take a position more sympathetic to reform.

People aged 16 to 34 were more likely than older people to support making it easier to acquire a gender recognition certificate and also backed allowing people to legally identify as non-binary.

In addition to the generation split, there was also a marked tendency for women to be more supportive than men.

The transgender debate has been on-going for a while, with strong opinions on both sides, but the survey suggests that most people (67%) have not been following it closely.

About half the people surveyed accepted the definition that a transgender person is someone who identifies as a different gender from the sex they were registered at birth.

One in five felt that someone had to have gender reassignment surgery to be transgender, a much narrower definition.

The poll indicates a majority of people would support making the process to acquire a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) easier but that support dropped when asked about specific proposals.

One of the proposed changes would mean people no longer would have to obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Forty per cent supported allowing transgender people to self-identify just slightly ahead of the 38% who opposed.

Another proposal was reducing the time someone had to have been living in their acquired gender from two years to three months, with a further three-month "reflection period". More people opposed this than supported it.

Reducing the minimum age a person can apply for legal gender recognition from 18 to 16 was strongly opposed.

Part of the debate has been on whether gender self-identification could affect women-only spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and domestic violence refuges.

The survey suggests that females are less concerned than males on the issue.

Women, in general, are divided on whether transgender women, who were registered male at birth, should be able to use women's public toilets but they are more likely to be in favour than men.

On the issue of prisons, there were slightly more people in favour of transgender women being kept in women's prison but one in five said they did not know.

In sport, there seemed to be a divide between leisure-based activities and elite level, with people not supporting transgender people taking part in professional sport under their acquired gender.

Overall, the survey suggests more support than opposition for transgender people to access single sex spaces…in certain situations. A third (35%) said they should be able to do so only if they have legally changed sex and had gender reassignment surgery. 28% said that transgender people should be able to access single sex spaces even if they have not had gender reassignment surgery.

When it comes to children, most people surveyed appear to be against allowing a transgender person aged under 16 to access hormone blocking medication, which can delay the onset of puberty, or other medical interventions.

In a school setting, the people surveyed mostly thought a transgender person aged under 16 should not be allowed to live as the gender they identify with at school without their parents' consent.

Again males and older people are much more likely than females to think this.

Professor Sir John Curtice, who has studied the results of the poll, told the BBC:  "There are two obvious characteristics of us as a society on transgender men and women.

"The first is that we are pretty evenly divided on many of the arguments we are having such as whether to make it easier for them to register legally their new gender and whether or not they should be able to use toilets of the gender to which they identify.

"The second is that quite a lot of us are still not really very sure about where we stand on this issue.

"On many of the questions in this poll we have got between a fifth and a third of people saying they are frankly not sure, don't know, neither agree nor disagree with either option."

"In contrast to the online debate, which is undoubtedly deeply polarised, the general public are not particularly sure and only about a third are following the issue closely."