People aged 16 and 17 to be allowed to change gender - Published Young people aged 16 and 17 will be allowed to change their legal gender after the Scottish government rejected moves to keep the minimum age at 18.Parliament had earlier been suspended for about half an hour when protesters shouted "shame on you all" and "there is no democracy here" from the public gallery as MSPs voted against a move to make it harder for sex offenders to change gender.Members of the public were later allowed back into the galleries, with MSPs describing the decision to remove them as "a disproportionate response" to the heckling.Efforts by some MSPs to keep the minimum age at 18 were voted down, with Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison saying that 16-year-olds have the right to vote in Scottish Parliament elections, leave home and get married.However, the government backed another amendment by SNP MSP Gillian Martin that would mean anyone convicted of a sexual offence who wants to apply for a GRC will need to be fully risk assessed."