A defiant Nicola Sturgeon has refused to apologise for her gender policy after the Supreme Court ruled a legal definition of a woman is based on their biological sex. The former Scottish First Minister has finally broken her silence, warning that trans lives could become “unliveable” after the landmark ruling.
The judgment, issued last month, confirmed that under the Equality Act 2010, “sex” refers to biological sex, not gender identity. The ruling followed years of legal debate, much of it prompted from gender reforms initiated by Sturgeon’s government in Scotland in 2018. Ms Sturgeon has been a staunch advocate of transgender rights and insisted she did not need to say sorry for legislation tabled by her government that would have allowed biological men to identify as another gender by simply signing a declaration, thereby allowing them access single-sex facilities.
Ms Sturgeon had been in charge of the Scottish Government when controversial gender reforms were put through parliament, including trying to force through the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.
Te Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill was passed at Holyrood but vetoed by the UK Government over concerns it undermined women’s safe spaces.
Her attempts upset women groups over an alleged failure to properly consult with them during the course of this legislation.
Following the judgement the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued interim guidance stating trans women – or biological men – would be unable to use “women’s facilities” in places such as hospitals, restaurants and shops.
In her first substantive comments on the April 16 ruling, Ms Sturgeon said feminists who took the Scottish Government to court did not represent “every woman in the country” and said she was concerned about how the judgment would be implemented in practice.
During a rare apperance at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday she rejected calls by groups like For Women Scotland to apologise for how she treated women.
The former SNP leader said:”I fundamentally disagree, fundamentally and respectfully disagree because the views of all opinions were taken account of in the run up to Parliament, not the SNP, but Parliament as a whole, with support from, I think, across all parties, for that legislation, the time taken to get to the point of decision on that was probably longer than for any other bill.
“And different people had their say. Then parliament decided on it. I recognise the different views on this. I’ve always actually recognised the different views on this, but I think it’s important that respect ones in both directions.”
Pressed why she should not say sorry, the former first minister insisted that “all opinions” were taken into account before the GRR Bill was passed with the support of MSPs across all parties.
She added: “I’ve always actually recognised the different views on this, but I think it’s important that respect runs in both directions.
“For every woman that I know or who contacts me, and I appreciate that that is not every woman in the country, for every one that contacts me or who I know personally with concerns about this, there are probably another two who have a different view.
“So for any group or any individual, me included, to say that their view is the only view that carries weight or the only view that has support, I just think is fundamentally (wrong).”