In December, Scotland passed the Gender Recognition (Scotland) Bill that introduces a system of self-declaration for obtaining a gender recognition certificate. This was part of the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) 2016 manifesto. It would allow anyone aged 16 and above to change their birth certificate. This reform would remove the requirement of a medical diagnosis for gender dysphoria.
Last month, the UK government used a mechanism for the first time to block a bill in the Scottish devolved assembly. Our “Conservative in Name Only” government performed a rare conservative action by blocking this ill thought out and dangerous legislation. The Bill would have allowed Scotland to be the first part of the UK to introduce a self-identification system for people who want to change gender.
Westminster’s decision to use the “nuclear option” of blocking the bill from going for royal assent represents a significant escalation of tensions around the issue, and will enrage supporters of the changes and nationalists. Scotland’s first minister, Nichola Sturgeon, has said her government was likely to mount a legal challenge in response.
All this leads us up to the point this week when rapists who carried out their sexual assaults as men, self identified as women and therefore were sent to women’s only prisons in Scotland. Isla Bryson, who was twice convicted of rape before identifying as a woman, was initially remanded to a women’s prison pending a sentence. Then another inmate identifying as a women,Tiffany Scott, was due to be transferred to the same women’s prison. After a public and media outcry, the Scottish Prison Service have suspended their new policy of sending transgender prisoners to women’s prisons pending an enquiry.
So how have we ended up at this point? The Scottish National Party is not just about Scottish Independence from the rest of the UK but its about forcing through as many crazy woke policies as possible. This issue with transgender prisoners is a perfect example of legislation that has not been thought through. Men calling themselves women will surely have a damaging effect on women’s rights and women’s only spaces.
It has been fun watching Nichold Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, struggle with the question “what is a women”. Maybe she needs to have a sit down with Matt Walsh to learn the basics. She had a car crash interview at the beginning of the week when she could not decide if a trans women was a women or not. She said that trans women were women but admitted they were not treated like a female when it came to being put in prison.
In the end Scotland will have a big problem. If their Gender Recognition Bill becomes law, then anyone can self identify as whatever gender they want. This will allow rapists who committed their evil acts as men, announce they are women, and legally they will be able to serve their sentence in women-only jails. Does this seem fair or right or is it winding back all that women have fought for to achieve equal rights.