Scottish Greens activist slams Glasgow Pride sponsorships
She told The Herald: 'Since the last Pride Parade, the demands have been exactly the same.
'Pride has always been and will always be a protest. Glasgow Pride itself should not be partnering with companies that are not only complicit in genocide and war, but are not showing support for the LGBT community.'
Thousands of Glaswegians have taken to the streets in recent years, with an estimated 50,000 attending Pride in 2023.
This year's celebration is earmarked for July 19.
Iris Duane ran for Parliament last year. (Image: Scottish Greens) However, activists have hit out at previous sponsors of the festivities, which include JP Morgan, a leading investor in Israeli arms company Elbit Systems, as well as drugs company Merck, which also has close ties to Israeli companies.
SSE, Easy Jet, Netflix UK, and Sky have also partnered with the organisers in past years.
Hundreds of people have signed an open letter calling on Glasgow Pride to reject partnerships with businesses that do not adhere to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Duane told The Herald: 'We're not just something that you can slap a flag on or put in a parade. This is an active part of supporting the community, especially in these trying times.
'People of colour, especially within our community, deserve to feel safe. So we cannot allow for companies that are oppressing their families to be part of the Pride Parade.'
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Last year's parade saw the creation of the 'No Pride in Genocide' splinter group, which Duane says was 'substantially larger' than the main event.
The bloc has been criticised by Glasgow Pride as an attempt to 'segregate' the LGTBQ community.
However, members say they are showing solidarity with gay, lesbian, and trans people from Palestine, and resisting 'pinkwashing' by the Israeli government.
According to activists, 'pinkwashing' is "when a state or organisation appeals to LGBTQ+ rights in order to deflect attention from its harmful practices.'
Iris said: 'Last year proved that there were many members of our community that were self-excluding themselves from Pride because of the ties that it has."
She added: 'However, when we come together in a grassroots movement away from business interests, we are united and incredibly proud to do that together.
'I think we've proven as a community before that we stand united. Ultimately the point of Pride is to be proud, is to make ourselves heard, and make sure that we are alive.
'We will not be complicit in trying to stop any other people from existing. All I'm asking for is a smidge of solidarity.'
Thousands take part in the march each year. (Image: JEFF J MITCHELL) In a statement posted to Instagram last week, Glasgow Pride slammed the open letter — and said they had yet to announce sponsorships for the event.
Organisers wrote: 'With the event in 78 days, our focus is on a safe march and festival. This is our only comment on demands attempting to segregate the LGBTQIA+ community.
'Pride is about LGBTQIA+ equality and inclusion which is now crucial due to direct attacks.
'It's not about other legitimate causes (Gaza, climate), which have separate Glasgow processions. Using Pride for these dilutes the focus on LGBTQIA+ rights and pinkwashes other issues.
'The UK Supreme Court ruling and other organisation's decisions in relation to this are harming Trans+ rights in Glasgow, in Scotland, and right across the UK.'
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The National
an hour ago
- The National
David Pratt: Israel's arming of Gaza's crime gangs is sure to backfire
Speaking at his military farewell ceremony last week before taking up his new post, Zini it seems was keen to point out that messianism, far from being a dirty word, is in fact what underpins today's Israel. 'We are all messianic – like David Ben-Gurion and the founding fathers of the nation, who saw in our people's grand vision a message for the entire world,' the new domestic spy chief told his audience. Israel by its deeds and actions has never been shy of sending out messages to the rest of the world – especially militarily. More often than not, they have not gone down well, especially in relation to its actions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and subjugation of the Palestinians. READ MORE: Freedom Flotilla urges UK Government to 'protect' ship from Israel as it nears Gaza Last week was no exception, with reports surfacing of what could best be described to say the least as a controversial strategy in Israel's efforts to defeat Hamas. In short, over the course of these past months Israel has been arming criminal gangs that loot aid convoys and are led by a known thief and drug trafficker with links to the terrorist Islamic State group (ISIS). The Shin Bet, which Zini is about to head up, has it seems been at the forefront of such a strategy and under his leadership few doubt things will change. Why should they change, ask critics, when the man who appointed him, Netanyahu, appears only too happy to confirm the measures? 'Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment,' Netanyahu's office declared last week as the reports surfaced. Hours later Netanyahu himself doubled down on the statement, his tone almost one of nonchalance and disregard. 'We made use of clans in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas … What's wrong with that?' Netanyahu said in a video posted on Twitter/X. 'It's only good. It saves the lives of Israeli soldiers,' he then added. But according to some observers, both inside Israel itself and beyond, there is a lot to be concerned about regarding such a strategy. Among those Israeli voices condemning the policy was former Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, now leader of Israel's right-wing opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party. 'The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister ... it's total madness,' Lieberman said in a radio interview, while also adding that Shin Bet was aware of the weapons transfers. Lieberman's concerns are based primarily on the fact that with no way of monitoring or following where such weapons end up, there is no guarantee they will not be directed at Israel It's a view shared by many. But it's not just Israelis that would be on the receiving end of such a policy and already Palestinians in Gaza are feeling its brutal impact. So just who are these 'clans', as Netanyahu calls them, what are their origins and how is their presence affecting the lives of Gazans and threatening the future of the territory? The first thing to realise here is that ever since the early days of the current conflict in Gaza – which started after Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack – the Shin Bet along with other Israeli intelligence officials have worked hard to identify and support potential Palestinian rivals to undermine Hamas. Among those identified was an armed gang led by a man named Yasser Abu Shabab, a thief and drug trafficker from the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Some reports suggest that Abu Shabab was previously jailed by Hamas for smuggling drugs, and that his brother was killed by Hamas when the group cracked down on attacks on UN aid convoys. Abu Shabab is descended from the influential Bedouin Tarabin clan, which spans southern Gaza, the Sinai, and the Naqab Desert. The area between Gaza and Sinai is known for drug smuggling and Abu Shabab's group has previously been accused of involvement in smuggling operations linked to Egyptian jihadi groups, hence Avigdor Lieberman's claims of his connection to ISIS which has a presence in the area and is known to be involved in the drug networks. Calling itself both the 'Anti-Terror Service' or 'Popular Forces', Abu Shabab's group is believed to comprise a relatively small number of members, perhaps in the hundreds. But despite its diminutive size, Israel saw it as an opportunity to help undermine Hamas. It's incorporation into such a strategy, say analysts, also underscored Netanyahu's uncertainty on who should take over the future administration of Gaza. 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Eyewitnesses in Gaza often described how the gang sets up berms to waylay aid convoys along the Israeli-controlled route from Kerem Shalom, where they waited with Kalashnikovs and other weapons. Georgios Petropoulos, a senior United Nations official who was based in Gaza last year, called Abu Shabab 'the self-styled power broker of east Rafah'. One internal United Nations memo seen by The Washington Post concluded that the gangs 'may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence' or 'protection' from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). One gang leader, the memo said, established a 'military-like compound' in an area 'restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF'. That leader was Abu Shabab. Throughout this time, Israeli, Palestinian and international observers have insisted that the gang's activity could simply not operate without the awareness of the IDF. 'There is no chance an armed militia or clan can work out in the open like this without Israel's agreement, and definitely not in Rafah,' said Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer, in an interview with the Financial Times ( FT). Following last week's admission from Netanyahu that Israel was arming Abu Shabab's gang, the official page of the 'Popular Forces' media office issued a statement continuing to deny any connection with the Israeli army. 'We wholly reject these allegations,' the statement read. 'We regard this as a blatant attempt at distorting the image of a popular force that was born out of suffering and in the face of oppression, theft and corruption.' But as the specialist Middle East website Mondoweiss highlighted in an online article last Friday, 'analysts have continued to point out that Abu Shabab's carefully curated social media presence, with the appearance of statements in both English and Arabic, is beyond the capabilities of the Gaza gang and is likely the work of the Shin Bet'. In a video posted last Wednesday, Abu Shabab can be heard calling on people from eastern Rafah to return to their homes, saying that food, medicine and shelter would be provided. The footage features images of several tents that appeared to have been erected in the area. Mondoweiss also cited Muhammad Shehada, a writer and civil society activist from Gaza, as saying that today Abu Shabab 'works in his new capacity as the head of his rebranded 'national force' of gang members to loot aid under the Israeli military's protection, carry out surveillance of resistance forces on its behalf and secure aid going to the murky US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), which is the US contractor tasked with delivering aid to Palestinians instead of the UN'. Israel has sought to overhaul aid distribution, backing the controversial GHF private scheme to hand out aid under the supervision of security contractors and Israeli soldiers. The Israelis insist the new system is vital to ensure Hamas is unable to benefit from aid that would help support its continued resistance. But UN officials and others have refused to participate in the scheme, calling it a 'weaponisation' of aid and saying they have not seen evidence of systematic diversion by Hamas. In fact, Hamas itself has now upped its crackdown on Abu Shabab's gangs. In its recent coverage, Mondoweiss detailed how Hamas has set up what has been dubbed the Arrow Unit. The unit was first formed over a year ago in March 2024, when the phenomenon of looting by armed gangs began to spread throughout Gaza and began as informal groups of young men. Abu Hadi, a member of the Arrow Unit who is also an officer in the Gaza police force, told Mondoweiss that he decided to join the unit after 'witnessing thieves robbing food stores and international kitchens, without concern for the people's hunger'. Since then, the Arrow Unit has conducted operations going head on with Abu Shabab's gangs who Hamas identifies as collaborators with the Israelis. In last Wednesday's video by Abu Shabab, he can be heard saying that that the 'Popular Forces' are working under 'Palestinian legitimacy', a phrase that Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders often use to refer to their government. The Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based rival of Hamas, has declined to comment on reports of connections between Abu Shabab and its government, yet another reminder of the power vacuum that exists in Gaza. READ MORE: Israeli forces kill six Palestinians near Gaza aid site The obvious threat posed to Gazans aside, Israel's attempts to exploit this security vacuum it created by backing Abu Shabab's gangs as an alternative to Hamas rule is a tactic not without precedent. Always in the past too, this has only served to make an already dire situation in Gaza even worse. Critics of Israel's policy say what is unfolding on the ground in this collaboration between Shin Bet, the IDF and the gangs points to a nefarious longer-term scheme, used to push Israel's starvation, ethnic cleansing and genocide policies. They remind also of the danger of creating a Frankenstein monster type militia in the region. Last week, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to the claim that Israel is arming Abu Shabab with a warning that it could see a repeat of a grim history for the country. He reminded that for decades, including multiple terms in office for Netanyahu, Israel allowed Hamas to grow as a counter to rivals Fatah, allowing Hamas to entrench its control in Gaza. It was seen as a cynical bid to prevent a unified Palestinian leadership from taking hold in Gaza and the much larger territory of the West Bank. 'After Netanyahu finished giving millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to giving weapons to organisations close to ISIS in Gaza, all off the cuff, all without strategic planning, all leading to more disasters,' Lapid warned on social media. His views were echoed by a recent editorial in the Israeli daily Haaretz. 'Instead of any serious discussion about reconstruction and the enclave's future, Netanyahu is advancing a messianic vision that includes crimes against humanity in the form of ethnic cleansing and population transfer,' observed the newspaper. In advancing that 'messianic vision', Israel's arming of gangs in Gaza will doubtless go on. Netanyahu after all now has his chosen head of Shin Bet, David Zini, to implement that vision, and he too by his own admission is 'messianic'.
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
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Israel's arming Gaza's crime gangs is certain to backfire disastrously
Speaking at his military farewell ceremony last week before taking up his new post, Zini it seems was keen to point out that messianism, far from being a dirty word, is in fact what underpins today's Israel. 'We are all messianic -like David Ben-Gurion and the founding fathers of the nation, who saw in our people's grand vision a message for the entire world,' the new domestic spy chief told his audience. Israel by its deeds and actions has never been shy of sending out messages to the rest of the world - especially militarily. More often than not they have not gone down well, especially in relation to its actions in Gaza the occupied West Bank and subjugation of the Palestinians. Last week was no exception, with reports surfacing of what could best be described to say the least as a controversial strategy in Israel's efforts to defeat Hamas. In short, over the course of these past months Israel has been arming criminal gangs that loot aid convoys and are led by a known thief and drug trafficker with links to the terrorist Islamic State group (ISIS). The Shin Bet, which Zini is about to head up, has it seems been at the forefront of such a strategy and under his leadership few doubt things will change. Why should they change ask critics, when the man who appointed him, Netanyahu, appears only too happy to confirm the measures? 'Israel is working to defeat Hamas in various ways, on the recommendation of all heads of the security establishment,' Netanyahu's office declared last week as the reports surfaced. Hours later Netanyahu himself doubled down on the statement his tone almost one of nonchalance and disregard. 'We made use of clans in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas… What's wrong with that?' Netanyahu said in a video posted on X. "It's only good. It saves the lives of Israeli soldiers,' he then added. But according to some observers, both inside Israel itself and beyond, there is a lot to be concerned about regarding such a strategy. Trucks carrying aid wait in front of the Rafah border crossing on March 2, 2025 in Rafah, Egypt Policy condemned Among those Israeli voices condemning the policy was former Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman now leader of Israel's right-wing opposition Yisrael Beiteibu party. 'The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister…it's total madness,' Lieberman said in a radio interview, while also adding that Shin Bet were aware of the weapons transfers. Lieberman's concerns are based primarily on the fact that with no way of monitoring or following where such weapons end up, there is no guarantee they will not be directed at Israel It's a view shared by many. But it's not just Israelis that would be on the receiving end of such a policy and already Palestinians in Gaza are feeling its brutal impact. READ MORE: 'Stakes could not be higher' Poland's election is a pivotal moment for all of Europe Is it actually possible for Ukraine to ever secure a just peace? Soldiers of fortune: Exposing the privatisation and profiteering of Palestinian pain Trump's sledgehammer politics are wreaking havoc in every sphere both home and away So just who are these 'clans' as Netanyahu, calls them, what are their origins and how is their presence affecting the lives of Gazans and threatening the future of the territory? The first thing to realise here is that ever since the early days of the current conflict in Gaza, - which started after Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack - the Shin Bet along with other Israeli intelligence officials have worked hard to identify and support potential Palestinian rivals to undermine Hamas. Among those identified was an armed gang led by a man named Yasser Abu Shabab, a thief and drug trafficker from the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Some reports suggest that Abu Shabab was previously jailed by Hamas for smuggling drugs, and that his brother was killed by Hamas when the group cracked down on attacks on UN aid convoys. Abu Shabab is descended from the influential Bedouin Tarabin clan, which spans southern Gaza, the Sinai, and the Naqab Desert. The area between Gaza and Sinai is known for drug smuggling and Abu Shabab's group has previously been accused of involvement in smuggling operations linked to Egyptian jihadi groups, hence Avigdor Lieberman's claims of his connection to ISIS which has a presence in the area and is known to be involved in the drug networks. Calling itself both the 'Anti-Terror Service or 'Popular Forces,' Abu Shabab's group, is believed to comprise a relatively small number of members, perhaps in the hundreds. But despite its diminutive size Israel saw it as an opportunity to help undermine Hamas. It's incorporation into such a strategy say analysts also underscored Netanyahu's uncertainty on who should take over the future administration of Gaza. 'If you think about who really can be an alternative to Hamas in Gaza, you have two options: either an Israeli military administration or the Palestinian Authority,' said Brig. Gen. Shlomo Brom, a former top Israeli military strategist, now retired. Speaking to the New York Times (NYT) Brom explained how Netanyahu does not want either because a full occupation of Gaza would be costly, financially and politically, for Israel. People carry their sacks of flour distributed by charities in Khan Yunis, Gaza, where there is a food crisis due to Israeli attacks on May 31, 2025 Prospect opposed On the other hand, engaging with the Palestinian Authority (PA), Brom said, would probably require a discussion about a Palestinian state, a prospect opposed by leading members of the Israeli government 'So they're looking for other solutions,' Brom was cited by the NYT as saying, describing the options as 'dubious.' Late last year these 'dubious' options came in the shape of Abu Shabab's gang. Eyewitnesses in Gaza often described how the gang sets up berms to waylay aid convoys along the Israeli-controlled route from Kerem Shalom, where they waited with Kalashnikovs and other weapons. Georgios Petropoulos, a senior United Nations official who was based in Gaza last year, called Abu Shabab 'the self-styled power broker of east Rafah.' One internal United Nations memo seen by The Washington Post concluded that the gangs 'may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence' or 'protection' from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). One gang leader, the memo said, established a 'military like compound' in an area 'restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF.' That leader was Abu Shabab. Throughout this time Israeli, Palestinian and international observers have insisted that the gang's activity could simply not operate without the awareness of the IDF. 'There is no chance an armed militia or clan can work out in the open like this without Israel's agreement, and definitely not in Rafah,' said Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer, in an interview with the Financial Times ( FT). Following last week's admission from Netanyahu that Israel was arming Abu Shabab's gang, the official page of the 'Popular Forces' media office, issued a statement continuing to deny any connection with the Israeli army. 'We wholly reject these allegations,' the statement read. 'We regard this as a blatant attempt at distorting the image of a popular force that was born out of suffering and in the face of oppression, theft, and corruption.' But as the specialist Middle East website Mondoweiss, highlighted in an online article last Friday, 'analysts have continued to point out that Abu Shabab's carefully curated social media presence, with the appearance of statements in both English and Arabic, is beyond the capabilities of the Gaza gang and is likely the work of the Shin Bet.' In a video posted last Wednesday, Abu Shabab can be heard calling on people from eastern Rafah to return to their homes, saying that food, medicine and shelter would be provided. The footage features images of several tents that appeared to have been erected in the area. Mondoweiss also cited Muhammad Shehadeh, a writer and civil society activist from Gaza, as saying that today Abu Shabab 'works in his new capacity as the head of his rebranded 'national force' of gang members to loot aid under the Israeli military's protection, carry out surveillance of resistance forces on its behalf, and secure aid going to the murky US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), which is the US contractor tasked with delivering aid to Palestinians instead of the UN. Palestinian boys carry pots as the queue at a hot meal distribution point in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, June 4, 2025 Handing out aid Israel has sought to overhaul aid distribution, backing the controversial GHF private scheme to hand out aid under the supervision of security contractors and Israeli soldiers. The Israelis insist the new system is vital to ensure Hamas is unable to benefit from aid that would help support its continued resistance. But UN officials and others have refused to participate in the scheme, calling it a 'weaponisation' of aid and saying they have not seen evidence of systematic diversion by Hamas. In fact Hamas itself has now upped its crackdown on Abu Shabab's gangs. In its recent coverage, Mondoweiss detailed how Hamas has set up what has been dubbed the Arrow Unit. The unit was first formed over a year ago in March 2024, when the phenomenon of looting by armed gangs began to spread throughout Gaza and began as informal groups of young men. Abu Hadi, a member of the Arrow Unit who is also an officer in the Gaza police force, told Mondoweiss that he decided to join the unit after 'witnessing thieves robbing food stores and international kitchens, without concern for the people's hunger.' Since then the Arrow Unit has conducted operations going head on with Abu Shabab's gangs who Hamas identifies as collaborators with the Israelis. In last Wednesday's video by Abu Shabab, he can be heard saying that that the 'Popular Forces' are working under 'Palestinian legitimacy,' a phrase that Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders often use to refer to their government. The Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based rival of Hamas, has declined to comment on reports of connections between Abu Shabab and its government, yet another reminder of the power vacuum that exists in Gaza. The obvious threat posed to Gazans aside, Israel's attempts to exploit this security vacuum it created by backing Abu Shabab's gangs as an alternative to Hamas rule is a tactic not without precedent. Always in the past too, this has only served to make an already dire situation in Gaza even worse. Critics of Israel's policy say what is unfolding on the ground in this collaboration between Shin Bet, the IDF and the gangs points to a nefarious longer term scheme, used to push Israel's starvation, ethnic cleansing and genocide policies. They remind also of the danger of creating a Frankenstein monster type militia in the region. Larger territory Last week Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to the claim that Israel is arming Abu Shabab with a warning that it could see a repeat of a grim history for the country. He reminded that for decades, including multiple terms in office for Netanyahu, Israel allowed Hamas to grow as a counter to rivals Fatah, allowing Hamas to entrench its control in Gaza. It was seen as a cynical bid to prevent a unified Palestinian leadership from taking hold in Gaza and the much larger territory of the West Bank. "After Netanyahu finished giving millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to giving weapons to organisations close to ISIS in Gaza, all off the cuff, all without strategic planning, all leading to more disasters,' Lapid warned on social media. His views were echoed by a recent editorial in the Israeli daily Haaretz. 'Instead of any serious discussion about reconstruction and the enclave's future, Netanyahu is advancing a messianic vision that includes crimes against humanity in the form of ethnic cleansing and population transfer,' observed the newspaper. In advancing that 'messianic vision' Israel's arming of gangs in Gaza will doubtless go on. Netanyahu after all now has his chosen head of Shin Bet, David Zini, to implement that vision, and he too by his own admission is "messianic".
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Aberdeen University students in trans row publish open letter
An open letter published several weeks ago details a range of issues; including the posting of 'transphobic hate material' on a break room noticeboard and the vandalism of trans-inclusive and anti-racist posters with 'penis stickers'. Trans righs have come to the fore at many universities. (Image: Unsplashed) The letter also calls for a 'concrete action plan' from university management, asking for 'the implementation of disciplinary processes for people who break school policies on discrimination and harassment', an 'externally-led diversity and inclusion audit', and 'mandatory trans-inclusive EDI training for all staff'. The Herald understands that issues between gender-critical and trans-inclusive academics and students in the department have festered for years, and have intensified over the last eighteen months. A public controversy ensued in February 2024 when SBS management invited prominent gender critical broadcaster Simon Fanshawe to lead a session on diversity training. The event with the academic and writer, who also serves as the Rector of Edinburgh University, was cancelled a week later after backlash by students and staff within the school. Fanshawe, who co-founded Stonewall in 1989, has rubbished the LGBT rights charity in recent years, labelling it as a "propaganda machine" which 'preaches extreme and divisive gender ideology under the guise of 'factual' information'. Academic and broadcaster Simon Fanshawe In an open letter originally published in May 2024, students involved with the 'Decolonising SBS' group wrote: 'We insist you offer an apology to students and staff in SBS for the organisation of the event, as well as an explanation as to why this event was cancelled, and take concrete steps to ensure future decisions on EDI issues are handled appropriately and transparently.' Now, a year later, students say their requests have been ignored. A statement reads: 'As of the 23 of April, 2025, we have yet to receive any response. We believe the continued silence of School management requires us to publish the below letter and invite students and academics who support our demands to add their names in solidarity. 'We hope that doing so will highlight to our department the urgent-course correction needed to rebuild trust and ensure the safety and well-being of the School's transgender students and staff in line with university policy and UK equality law.' The updated letter has been signed by more than 250 students and academics from across the UK. Read more from Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco: My trek up the Royal Mile — what do tourists say about Scotland's capital? Calls to bring back this 'unique' detail in Princes Square shopping centre How much has new trains procurement cost taxpayers? Scot Gov refuses to say Meanwhile, students have spoken out about their experiences on social media. PhD candidate Rowan Kuminski wrote on Bluesky: 'Aberdeen Uni has the nerve to knowingly let its staff bully, harass, and attack trans people and refuses to abide by its own Transgender Equality Policy, then raises a Pride flag as if that erases the trauma and harm they continue to cause.' Fellow student Jack Barber posted to X: 'It's Pride month, meaning my uni has the rainbow merch out in force; unfortunately they care more about looking inclusive than protecting queer staff and students.' Christina Schmid, president of the university's student association, told The Herald: 'The Students' Union stands with students who have raised concerns through this open letter. We recognise the seriousness of the issues highlighted and share their call for a more inclusive and respectful learning environment for all especially for trans and non-binary students. We have been liaising with the University to ensure these concerns are taken seriously and addressed meaningfully. As a signatory to the letter, we fully support the call for action and accountability. We will continue to advocate for transparency, appropriate support, and a culture where all students feel safe and respected.' There have been a range of protests in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision (Image: NQ) Responding to The Herald's request for comment, a University of Aberdeen spokesperson said the institution had commissioned an independent review of the complaints. The spokesperson noted: 'The University takes its strategic commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion extremely seriously, including promoting and championing the rights of trans staff and students as well as respecting the rights of individuals in respect of their protected beliefs. 'This commitment resulted in the commissioning of an independent investigation in relation to issues raised by some staff and students within the School. The results are currently being reviewed to determine the appropriate next steps and members of the management team have engaged with all those involved throughout the process.' The public row comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of a woman in late April. Bosses at Scotland's largest universities are considering the fallout of the decision on their policies on transgender inclusion and single-sex spaces. A spokesperson for Edinburgh University said that their guidelines, which currently permit individuals to use toilets which correspond with their gender identity, would be reviewed with 'compassion' and 'legal rigour'. A Glasgow University spokesperson said the institution was 'actively considering' the ramifications of the ruling.
