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Surgeon: destroyer of women's rights (Andrew Milligan - Pool/Getty Images)
Nobody could say Nicola Sturgeon hadn’t been warned. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls told the then Scottish First Minister that amending the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill to include self-identification would pose a danger to women and girls. Feminists working in domestic and sexual violence services warned her. The indomitable J.K. Rowling called her a “destroyer of women’s rights”. And legal experts pointed out that the erosion of female only spaces, including refuges and prisons, would allow male sexual predators to access vulnerable victims.
But Sturgeon knew better, accusing feminists of being transphobic for pointing this out, and refusing to back down over the scandal of trans-identified Isla Bryson, a double rapist who was subsequently placed in a women’s prison.
Now comes fresh humiliation for Sturgeon: the Court of Session in Scotland has found in favour of the UK Government’s unprecedented decision to use Section 35 to block the GRR Bill from Royal Assent. This ruling is a damning indictment of how the legislation was poorly and irresponsibly drafted; it confirms that the Bill was fundamentally flawed, and the S35 order legitimate. Had it not been blocked by Westminster, the new Bill would have allowed anyone over the age of 16, born or living in Scotland, to change their sex in law, within a period as short as six months and without any need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
When the Scottish Parliament passed the GRR Bill by 86 votes to 39 last year, there was noisy opposition from feminists and human rights campaigners. Sturgeon’s bill — she had been passionately advocating for it since 2017 — proposed a system of “self-identification” or “declaration” for trans people which would replace legislation requiring a trans person to “prove” that they had “lived in their acquired gender” for two years.
Then, in January, the double rapist Adam Graham (who had, prior to his conviction, declared himself a woman and changed his name to Isla Bryson) was remanded to a women’s prison to await sentencing. Following an outcry, there was an inevitable climbdown and the latest policy on prisons in Scotland says that any transwoman with a history of violence against women will mostly not be housed in female prisons — other than in “exceptional circumstances”. It is a very small shift, and those “exceptional circumstances” appear to involve a highly subjective risk assessment.
A self-described “feminist to her fingertips”, Sturgeon, who hoped to win the hearts and minds of Scotland’s progressives by introducing the GRR Bill, has now become a figure of hate and ridicule. Along with Stonewall and other supporters of self-identification, she argued that it was a mere administrative change free from adverse effects. All it would do, would be to make life easier and more dignified for trans people. However, as opponents countered, it would pose a significant risk to women and girls if men could simply declare themselves women and legally enter single-sex spaces.
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SubscribeAm i delighted to see Sturgeon get her comeuppance?
You bet i am!
Puir Nicola shed a tear in her hankie
She was soooo upset
The wee luikalike Krankie
Conservative “wit”?
Don’t ever try to be funny. Leave that to those of us with more sophisticated intellects.
You are right, you are hilarious!
It’s a Private Eye reference, Crispin.
Smug Socialist would be a better nom de plume for you
i hope this is not the limit of her comeuppance. But given how low the Scottish “government” has sunk since the disastrous devolution legislation that Blair bequeathed us all, I for one doubt that she will ever get the comeuppance she and her fellow travellers deserve.
“the UK government refuses to see our trans siblings for the people they really are.”
This is one of those lies which Trans Rights Activists regularly employ to try to discredit and intimidate anyone who refuses their demands.
It’s not a question of seeing trans people as not being people or believing every trans person is a danger to women. It’s a matter of protecting women from those who are and will take advantage.
This principle is so well established in our society, it ridiculous it should be controversial. We don’t insist on DBS checks for teachers because we believe every adult is a danger to children. We do it because if we simply took their word for it adults who are a danger to children would take advantage to gain access to children.
I agree that the principle shouldn’t be controversial or even hard to understand. To paraphrase your last sentence: we don’t insist on keeping men out of women’s spaces because we believe every man is a danger to women. We do it because if we simply took their word for it men who are a danger to women would take advantage to gain access to women.
The same applies to the full body-searches we all now have to endure at airports. We’re not all terrorists, but it’s for the avoidance of doubt. Pretty simple principle really.
I’m struggling to see the relevance of the phrase “our trans siblings”. I don’t feel any familial connection to them – there is no such thing as ‘trans’.
Some people are genuinely dysphoric, in which case they need psychological help to understand that if you are misperceiving reality, then you need to try to change your perception, not reality. Some people are gender non-conforming, in which case they are nothing new and may dress how they please (within reason). Some are fetishists transvestites – ‘gender non-conforming’ level 2 – in which case they can take their chances with how the rest of the world reacts to them in public (and accept that they have no place teaching their fetishes to children). And some are autogynephiles, in which case they can bloody well take their personal sexual proclivities back to the privacy of their own bedrooms. In all cases, no sex is changed, and nothing is ‘transed’. Crucially, the only rights that are removed by any ‘trans’ activism are those of women and girls.
Thanks to Julie Bindel for this piece.
According to the Scottish government website, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Youseless have been handing out about £900,000 per year to lobby groups to promote “trans rights” etc., and that’s not counting their subscriptions to Stonewall The money is used to brainwash schoolkids and to lobby MSPs. The result is that trans rights is the only political issue that Scots teens get worked up about. And remember, the voting age for Scottish parliament elections is 16. We can breath a sigh of relief for this court ruling, but let’s not get complacent: Mr Youseless can still launch an appeal. He will do so not on the legal merit of his case, but simply to keep the issue rumbling on.
I suspect any appeal will be shelved – quietly.
What a hill do die on – fighting for a rapist’s “rights” to pretend he’s a woman on account of his pink leggings.
Congratulations to all those who campaigned to defeat this idiocy.
Or as comedian Leo McKearse put it ‘ Just coz you’re wearing a wig that looks like it came out of a skip and some Primark leggings, that doesn’t make you a woman’.
As Germaine Greer declared on the subject of fake women: Just because I put a brown coat on, it doesn’t mean that I’m a ******* cocker spaniel.
Whatever happened to the criminal investigation into Sturgeon’s finances?
And whatever happened to the motor home ?
The Hamas leadership are living in it.
And the Jaguar i-Pace.
The new Chief Constable is very tight-lipped on this topic. Even the SNP’s own legal team are moaning about the delay. All we know is that the investigation into the SNP supporters’ missing £600,000 has so far cost the taxpayer more than £900,000 and the spend on the investigation is currently £100,000 per month.
Here’s where the money went:
To accountants, lawyers, experts, etc., etc. for pondering, head scratching. advising and pontificating on the SNP’s chaotic and incomprehensible accounts: £698,000
To garaging, warehousing, labelling and listing exhibits including camper vans: £100,000
To public relations consultants for explaining why nothing much has happened for two years: £100,000
To actual policemen, arresting actual suspects: £2,000.
What a terrible waste. That money could have been sent to Rwanda.
Long live the swamp
Nice work if you can get it.
It seems that the legal action being brought against the Scottish Government by Alex Salmond will go a long way to providing the answers…
If there were not such serious issues at stake, the speed with which the fundamental underpinning principles of the policy collapsed would be hilarious:
SNP: Transwomen are women. No debate!
Everyone Else: What about that double rapist over there who now says he’s a woman?
SNP: Well not him, obviously!
To me this whole farce shows without the shadow of the doubt that the Scottish parliament is a useless institution filled with totally incompetent people (of all colours!).
You mean, unlike the House of Commons and the House of Lords?
Actually, yes. In the house of commons you might find someone of stature. I am sure the HoL as well.
The holyrood assembly is a barren land of ability.
“In the house of commons you might find someone of stature. I am sure the HoL as well.”
“…you might…”
” I am sure…”
Name them!
Kemi Badenoch
Rosie Duffield
Baroness Nicholson
Just to get started…..
No males then?
They only have to stand up and say so. At the moment the only males we’ve heard from are the whiners Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Chris Bryant who are, apparently, afraid.
Same with the metro mayors; for God’s sake, here in Leeds we have an ex-Corrie actress.
I disagree with you; the Scottish* Assembly is doing a fine job if you see its job as independence for Scotland. The more that they can force the English to intervene with actions from the Assembly, the more that they can demonstrate to their young followers how important it is to have independence. It doesn’t really matter even what they are trying to do.
The comments on this site show that Scotland is not wanted. If there was a UK-wide referendum on Scottish* or Welsh or Irish independence, the result would be a foregone conclusion. England really believes that it is special and the rest of the UK can see it. But England is showing huge signs of mismanagement – if you follow the debates on UnHerd. All English politicians are useless, as the debates go. England can’t control immigration or people wanting to work from home or not work at all – as the commenters say. What does England have except for overpaid bankers and too many people in the Civil Service? – as the debates go. Of course there is London, a tourist Mecca.
Scotland has a drugs problem as does Norway. Nordic countries have always suffered from addiction problems. Could it be connected with the lack of serotonin?
Excuse me, are you by any chance talking about a matter in which the SNP tried to force down the gullet of the majority of Scots a set of notions to which no Scot had given assent in any electoral forum, with an arrogance compared with which the worst colonial proconsul was a respectful and pleasant gentleman? Where do you get the idea that the people of Scotland would stand up for the pleasure of having false values they would never share forced upon them by “their” government?
From the people who brought you Liz Truss and Boris Johnson!!!!
Strange isn’t it. For months on end we have useless politicians on this site and then suddenly Westminster is great again. Meanwhile, very quietly, Welsh Labour seems to be doing very well.
In Scotland the politicians are being carried away by their own (self) importance. Suddenly they have competition on the inside and they’re not clever enough to deal with that one.
I got a feeling they will be back with another crack at this.
The progressive activists will be foaming at the mouth, ready to beat up any feminist they see in the streets daring to speak up, doing their best to get those who do not support them canceled, and pouring blood on themselves and artwork in protest.
And….I suspect, that a lot of progressive voters that might have questioned supporting these clowns will now feel safe doing so knowing that the court has spoken.
So…they will be back
As usual a wishy washy sorted of article from this writer. Let’s be clear that the party that saved Scottish women was the Conservatives. Labour backed the stupidity in Scotland and Stammer still thinks 1% of women can have an appendage that is not part of the female anatomy.
Useless and Co will be back on Trans rights are women’s right asap.
Whether you like her or not, Julie Bindel is anything but wishy-washy. But if you’re looking for other powerful female voices who are fighting back for the rights of women & girls against this farcical but progressively darker movement, then here are some to look out for:
Maya Forstater. Helen Joyce. Joanna Cherry. Rosie Duffield MP. Kellie J Keen. Allison Bailey. Stella O’Malley and more. Or just watch Adult Human Female, a film made expressly to address the preservation of women’s rights.
I suspect self-identification gains traction on the tribal left not because it is remotely a good idea but simply because of its capacity to infuriate the Karens and gammons. That’s how some of them get their kicks.
There’s probably some truth in that. And it clearly works.
The enjoyment of riling others is more of a right-wing thing I think – the tribal left get their kicks by posing, posturing, assuming righteousness. This is what allows them to say, things such as, “This is a devastating day for equality. It is a democratic outrage, crushing basic rights” – this comment reveals ‘their truth’: that they are [see themselves] as bastions of decency and their enemies as orcs. Social Justice Warriors- self identified!
You think!
Nice little bit of snark there to back up my thought. Also it’s a good example of the paucity of good comedy from the right.
These are the leaders and protectors of democracy. We’re in big trouble.
You’d rather more Donald Trump and Boris Johnson?
No, Nigel Farage will be the preferred choice of millions.
Get used to it Madame.
The guy who lost, what is it, 7 attempts to get elected to the commons? That’s your best guy?!?!?
Thank heavens!!
Informal government by NGOS, think tanks and the charity sector (or what Hegel called ‘civil society) is now seamless with their friends in the mainstream political parties, Stonewall being the key actor here. This is what is known as the left-liberal hegemony which exists some time before the ‘woke’ obsession but has become accentuated parallel to it.
Elon Workman
I understand Hunza Yousef intends to proceed and try to reintroduce the bill which he needs to retain the Greens support.
This is now nothing to do will the bill itself. It is the principle of losing to the horrible, disgusting UK.
When offered the choice of devolution the majority in Scotland voted for it.
When offered the choice of independence the majority in Scotland voted against it.
S.35 isn’t some sort of bug. It’s a necessary feature of the constitutional arrangement which the Scottish electorate themselves voted for. Which, as the Court just found, was properly applied in this case.
The author’s right: Humza Yousaf must be mighty relieved.
“The wholesale dismissal of women’s fears and concerns were shocking during the entire process.”
This isn’t shocking. It’s inevitable.
This is male pay-back for the last 60+ years of “feminism”.
And if you actually believe any of the utter nonsense the “trans-supporting” politicians spout, got a bridge for sale in brooklyn. interested?
Why is this the hill they have chosen to die on?It really is bizarre .
and as for
Green MSP Maggie Chapman has greeted today’s news by tweeting: “This is a devastating day for equality. It is a democratic outrage, crushing basic rights
Wow!
This seems to be a very weak and transparent attempt to deflect from the daily humiliations that the Tories are suffering. Sunak is miles out of his depth, the Covid enquiry has demonstrated how hopeless the entire Tory establishment is, and the hideous Braverman swings further and further towards open fascism.
Sturgeon is the most successful UK politician since Blair – and it drives you nuts, doesn’t it!
Ah – what is a ‘successful politician’ to you – surely not just a vote winner? She is now about as popular as Blair, and a clear difference between the two is that Blair had some actual success, beyond his own PR, whilst Sturgeon et al – an embarrassment of fails. One more:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/10/scottish-schools-have-tumbled-from-top-of-the-class-this-is-what-went-wrong
And clearly the most delusionally self-regarding. ‘Successful’ defined here to be as ‘fluid’ as the current definition of sex.