Nicola Sturgeon: 'I should have paused controversial gender reforms'
The former first minister is speaking to ITV News as she prepares to launch her memoir Frankly on Thursday, August 14.
The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill has become one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in recent years.
While it was passed cross-party in Holyrood, it was blocked by the UK Government because of the implications it had on reserved equality legislation.
It aimed to simplify the process for a transgender individual to legally change their gender, removing the need for a gender dysphoria diagnosis.
Gender rows have erupted in recent years, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling that the terms "woman", "man" and "sex" related specifically to biological sex.
In a new interview with the broadcaster, Ms Sturgeon said: "I didn't, I think, anticipate as much as I should or engage as much as I should on some of the concerns that might then be triggered.
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"At the point I knew it was becoming, or felt, it was becoming as polarised, I should have - I say in the book I wonder if I should have - I am going to say it categorically: I should have said 'right, ok, let's pause, let's take a step back because I fervently believe that the rights of women and the interests of trans people are not irreconcilable at all.
"I should have taken a step back and said 'how do we achieve this?'.
ITV News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham asks the former first minister: "So you're basically admitting that you should have just paused that legislation?"
Ms Sturgeon, clarifies, "paused, yes".
She has previously rejected calls to apologise to critics of gender self-I, arguing she "fundamentally and respectfully" disagreed.
The Scottish Government lost its legal challenge over the use of a Section 35 order of the Scotland Act from Westminster.
It was the first time in history that the veto power had been used to block Scottish legislation.
The legislation caused friction with Ms Sturgeon's own party.
Ms Sturgeon's candid interview, which will be broadcast on STV on Monday at 7pm, also became tearful as she recalled the memory of her now estranged husband Peter Murrell being arrested for the first time in an SNP finances probe.
He was first arrested in April 2023 but was released without charge. However, he was later re-arrested and charged with embezzlement a year later.
Ms Sturgeon, and former party treasurer Colin Beattie MSP, were also arrested in 2023 but are no longer under investigation by Police Scotland.
She told ITV News she saw her home look like a "murder scene" after a blue forensic tent was erected outside her home.
The Glasgow Southside MSP, who is stepping down in May, said: "I don't really have a clear memory of that because I think I'd gone upstairs to get myself ready.
"I genuinely don't know whether, the fact that I don't have a clear image of that in my head is because I didn't witness it or that I have kind of somehow blocked it out.
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"It wasn't until I got to my mum and dad's that I saw the pictures of my house looking like a murder scene, effectively."
The former first minister becomes visibly emotional, wiping away tears during the interview.
She added: "I'm sorry, I'm not really... I'm just working out that it's really hard to articulate how I felt that day.
"I had this sense of horror and upset and the shame of it all."
On her arrest in June 2023, she was asked what it was like to go from a "lauded female first minister to walking into a police station for questioning".
She replied: "Horrific. Part of me just closed down."
Excerpts of her memoir published so far revealed Ms Sturgeon has never considered her sexuality to be "binary" as she dismissed claims of a 2020 affair with French ambassador to the UK Catherine Colonna.
Ms Sturgeon said in the ITV interview that it was "just my view of the world and the way people are".
"If you're about to ask me am I making some big revelation? No. Am I putting labels on myself? No. That's how I see the world."
Asked whether she could be in a relationship with a woman in the future, she said: "I'm just out of a marriage, so I'm not rushing into a relationship with anyone, anytime soon. I'm enjoying being my own person for a while."
She added: 'I'm not contemplating, sort of anything of that nature. I'm just enjoying life.'
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