Scottish Transgender Alliance has filed a petition with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service urging them to work with trans equality groups

Thousands have signed a petition demanding Scotland’s courts not jail people if they do not tell their sex partners they are trans.

The Scottish Transgender Alliance asked people to sign a petition asking the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to urgently work with equality groups.

It comes after Chris Wilson, 25, pled guilty in court after he was accused of failing to tell two girls his gender history and real age.

He will be trialed this Friday (5 April), where he will likely face jail. Wilson is already on the sex offender’s register for life.

Over 2,400 people signed the petition, addressing their concern trans people could risk imprisonment for not telling their sexual partners their gender history.

Writing to the Lord Advocate, the STA said: ‘We consider it essential that trans people’s right to privacy about their gender history be upheld in all areas of their lives.

‘They must not be placed in fear of imprisonment simply for non-disclosure of their gender reassignment status to a sexual partner.’

Last month, Wilson admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old girl who said she was 16, after telling her he was 16 when he was really 22.

He also admitted to kissing and cuddling another girl who was also 15 at the time, and also lied about his age.

Despite the ages, it is believed due to the ‘obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud’ charge, Wilson was only convicted on the basis he had lied about his gender history.

Nathan Gale, development worker at the STA, said: ‘There are other factors involved in this case, the two young women involved were only 15, but in bringing these particular charges the message the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sent to trans people is, we will criminalize you if you fail to disclose your gender history to sexual partners.

‘Or put more bluntly, when it comes to sex you have no right to privacy.

‘I sincerely hope that on receiving this petition COPFS will understand the seriousness of trans people’s fears and respond to our call for COPFS to take urgent steps to address them.’

If you would like to read more about the case, check out Nathan Gale’s comment piece for Gay Star News here.