What comes next after Supreme Court hands down gender ruling

The National

27-04-2025

Former MP Mhairi Black weighs in to say we need to change the 'binary boxes' society is organised around, even though it is now clear that sex is in fact binary, as the majority knew all along. Black appears to equate the legal protection of women with the actions of fascists in the 1930s, calling those objecting to sharing a changing room with someone of the opposite sex 'weirdos'.
That's without the aggressive trans lobby saying they will still use the toilets they want to, posting selfies and boasting that if they are banned from doing so, they will 'pee on the floor' of public buildings. This is not the reaction you would expect of the 'marginalised', 'terrified' group they claim to be.
Since the ruling, a lot has been made of the fact that trans people comprise only 0.44% of the population, but few mention the hugely disproportionate effect it would have had on the 52% of the population (women) if anyone could become a woman on a whim, access women-only spaces and effectively erase women.
In Scotland, John Swinney and Police Scotland have over the last week gone out of their way to reassure the allegedly victimised trans community. What a shame they never reassured gender-critical women and men when they were gaslighting us, telling us we were transphobes, and threatening women's hard-won legal rights.
At least the Scottish Government has said it has 'no plans' to revive the disastrous gender reform legislation. I suppose even they could see there is no point. Self-ID is off the cards and Gender Recognition Certificates mean as much as they always did.
Tim Hopkins of the Equality Network says self-ID has not caused any problems elsewhere it has been implemented. Really? What about Ireland, which sleep-walked into self-ID by tagging it on to a referendum about abortion rights and now has violent male Barbie Kardashian housed in the women's wing of Limerick Prison, causing considerable problems for the prison authorities? Or Canada, where most schools teach that a child can be born in the wrong body? And countries with self-ID will find out to the cost of women that measures to counter unequal pay and treatment will become meaningless if men can claim them too.
Tim even claims that everyone down the line will now get to interpret the Supreme Court decision any way they please, from the EHRC and regulators down to employers and providers. Don't think so. One commentator took it a step further, saying that as males are not now allowed in hospital wards, women will not be able to get female visitors and men will not be present in 'birthing rooms' (it's 'maternity units'). This is where you see how ludicrous the arguments have become.
The Scottish Government has never supported gender-critical women, refusing to engage with us meaningfully prior to enacting its daft legislation, which it only got through by forcing MSPs to support it or lose the blessing of their then leader. Even now, they imply the Government will have to undergo some drastically difficult contortions to implement the law. It shouldn't be that difficult. The law is now clear.
What is less obvious is that the Scottish Government even effectively gaslit trans people by making them believe they could change sex when they cannot. The Scottish Government now faces a major financial headache in changing its guidance to public bodies to ensure single-sex provision. Some definitely seem more concerned at the fate of trans people than they ever were about women's safety being compromised and women self-excluding from public toilets for religious reasons.
They fret about where trans people will now go to the toilet. How about all those gender-neutral toilets which were installed up and down the country (or changed from being male and female) as the Scottish Government decided the law would change in its favour? Just don't take the easy way out and disadvantage disabled people by saying trans people should use their facilities, as was Shirley-Anne Somerville's suggestion in the trans schools guidance.
The law is now clear. Let the Scottish Government's response to it also be clear and its support for the women of Scotland be unequivocal. Better late than never.
Julia Pannell
Tayside
THERE was only ever going to be one topic for my letter this week. An issue that I feel very strongly about and which makes my blood boil. Women are now well and truly safe from marauding guys in skirts barging intae their toilets and sexually assaulting them. Hallelujah! (I was always partial to the lowest form of wit!)
Seriously, I was always taught that a proper civilised society treats its minority groups and vulnerable folk with the utmost respect. Well, right now, I can't think of a more vulnerable, put-upon minority group within Scotland and the whole of the UK than the trans community (less than 1% of the population). Given the recent Supreme Court judgment, they are most certainly about to be put upon even more!
For aw us men and women (the 'proper' type as deemed by the Supreme Court), imagine innocently going into a bar or restaurant for a drink or a meal, then it comes to the point we need a pee, or maybe something a bit more! There are two toilets – one is totally out of bounds, and the other is full o' folk that we find, given our appearance, totally intimidating. What the hell happens now! Depends on the strength of yer ain bladder or bowels, I guess! Time for a desperate rush out of said establishment to find another establishment outside, hopefully nearby, that has a disabled loo or a unisex one! Hopefully we can keep it in that long!
This is the predicament trans folk now face. Before deciding where to drink or eat, a recce of potential bars and restaurants will need to take place beforehand to assess if they have a disabled or unisex loo. Hang on though, disabled toilets are for disabled folk. Why should trans folk be forced to utilise toilets specially adapted for disabled folk, another minority group in society whose needs are also often overlooked? That just leaves unisex toilets, which loads of bars and restaurants don't currently have.
Returning to the 'threat' posed by said men in skirts against the female population. Am I missing something? The last time I checked the statistics for women and girls being assaulted by men posing as trans women or even genuine trans women themselves were so miniscule as to be insignificant. It's all about what MIGHT happen!
What aboot us guys though! Statistics definitely reflect that women and girls are a million times more likely to be murdered, seriously assaulted, the victims of assault generally, rape, serious sexual assault, other sexual assaults, verbal sexual abuse, unwanted sexual comments, misogyny, etc, etc, by whom? Us 'proper' guys! Dae ye want me tae gaun on!
For god's sake why can't folk gie the trans community a bloody break! Giving Rabbie Burns's famous song a bit of a twist, I reckon – 'a human being is a human being for aw that!'
Ivor Telfer
Dalgety Bay, Fife