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Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Sturgeon: Legal definition of a woman may need to change
Nicola Sturgeon has argued the law on the definition of a woman may need to be changed to accommodate trans people after complaining that a Supreme Court ruling had been 'massively over-interpreted'. The former first minister did not dispute that the court was correct that the definition of woman in the Equality Act 2010 was based on biological sex. But she argued that this could be changed to give trans people access to female-only areas as it was for politicians 'to decide what the law should be or has to be.' She said the 'law has to change' if trans people's lives become 'almost impossible' and cited comments from Baroness Hale, the first female president of the Supreme Court. Lady Hale said last week that 'there's nothing in that judgment that says that you can't have gender neutral loos ' and Ms Sturgeon argued that this showed that the ruling had been 'massively over-interpreted.' The former SNP leader made the comments this weekend at the How the Light Gets In festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, adding that she had received 'more misogynistic abuse as a result of this issue than any other'. Ms Sturgeon said this was 'ironic' but pledged to 'always' be an ally to trans people 'no matter how difficult that might be.' But For Women Scotland (FWS), the feminist group that won the Supreme Court case against the SNP government, said the real misreading of the law had come from 'trans activists who have spun the most outrageous interpretations.' Ms Sturgeon's government tried the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill, which would have allowed biological men to change legal gender by simply signing a declaration. The legislation was passed at Holyrood but vetoed by the UK Government over concerns it undermined women's safe spaces. But it has emerged that swathes of Scotland's public sector adopted self-ID all the same, allowing trans people access to female toilets and changing rooms. Experts have warned these practices will have to be scrapped following the Supreme Court's ruling in April that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, and does not include trans women. Ms Sturgeon has previously claimed some opponents of the GRR Bill were transphobic. In January 2023, the month before she stepped down as first minister, she said: 'You'll also find that they're deeply misogynist, often homophobic, possibly some of them racist as well.' Earlier this month she said she 'fundamentally' disagreed that she should apologise for the Bill, saying FWS did not represent 'every woman in the country.' The Sunday Times reported that Ms Sturgeon told the festival that 'some of the immediate reaction' to the ruling had been over-interpreted. 'But if it is the case that the judgment means we have to move to a situation where trans lives are almost impossible to live then, I'm sorry, but the law has to change because that is not an acceptable way to be,' she said. Ms Sturgeon added: 'Many of those on the other side (of the issue) say it is all about protecting women. Isn't it ironic that I have probably had more misogynistic abuse as a result of this issue that on any other issue in my entire political career. Go figure.' But Susan Smith, a director of FWS, said: 'It would be quite ironic, although not unexpected, if the first female first minister was resolutely sticking to the notion that biological sex is some nebulous concept.' Trans law 'is easy to follow' Dr Lucy Hunter Blackburn, of policy analysts Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, said the court's ruling was 'easy to follow' and organisations should follow the Scottish Parliament by taking steps 'straightaway to comply with the law.' She added: 'They need to read the judgment, obtain their own legal advice and ignore the former first minister, whose contributions on this subject remain as unhelpful as ever.' Humza Yousaf, Ms Sturgeon's successor as first minister, also admitted that the manner in which the SNP tried to introduce gender self-ID in Scotland was a 'mistake.' Asked if self-ID had been a mistake, Mr Yousaf told Times Radio: 'The way we handled that, it clearly was a mistake. There's no two ways about it and not taking people on that journey with us.' He said he still supported reforming the 'over-medicalised process' for trans people to change gender but admitted 'we could have handled it a lot better, I think that self-evident.'
Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Fraudster guilty of stalking diplomat
Farah Damji, a convicted fraudster who once persuaded leading legal figures to take part in a photographic exhibition, has been found guilty of stalking the former British ambassador to Belarus. A jury at Wood Green crown court heard that Damji, 58, had pursued a 'campaign of threats, harassment, abuse and blackmail' against Nigel Gould-Davies after they met through an internet dating site in 2023. She will be sentenced in June. In 2021 Damji, who founded The View, a magazine to support women offenders, persuaded Baroness Hale of Richmond, the former president of the Supreme Court, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws KC, the human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger and the Brexit opponent Gina Miller to take part in a photographic exhibition while she was on the
