Latest news with #genderreforms
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Kate Forbes may be banned from arts venue because of her views on trans issues
A venue at the Edinburgh Fringe festival has triggered a freedom of speech row after indicating that Kate Forbes won't be allowed back because of her views on trans issues. Summerhall Arts issued an apology to other performers for the 'oversight' of allowing the Deputy First Minister, who has spoken up against gender reforms and backs single-sex spaces for biological women, being interviewed onstage last week. Several of the performances at the venue during this year's Fringe run feature gay or transgender themes, and some of the artists set up a 'safe room' because they were said to have been 'terrified' while 5ft 2in Ms Forbes was in the building. Now bosses at the venue have indicated that they will develop 'robust, proactive inclusion and wellbeing policies that would prevent this oversight in our bookings process happening again'. Women's rights campaigners claimed that banning critics of self-ID would be against the law. It comes after the Stand comedy club was forced to reinstate a show featuring Joanna Cherry at the Fringe two years ago after she threatened legal action for discrimination when the venue initially planned to cancel the event because of her views on trans issues. Marion Calder, a director at For Women Scotland, said any refusal to allow Ms Forbes and others who share her views to appear at the venue would be 'against the law' for the same reasons as in the battle between Ms Cherry and the Stand two years ago. She said: 'They clearly haven't taken legal opinion on this. Why on earth would members of staff and other performers be scared of a young woman having 'dangerous' thoughts? 'Summerhall is renowned as being one of the largest Fringe venues: what is this saying about the Edinburgh Fringe if free speech doesn't exist and this appearance is intolerable? And who are these arbiters who think some people are not allowed to have thoughts?' She also highlighted that Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who has indicated that his party would no longer support gender reform legislation, was among the other speakers with no similar backlash. Ms Calder said: 'Why were they not up in arms about Anas? Why burn the witch? At a time when people are crying out for edgy and different Summerhall is doing the opposite of what it should be doing. 'People are fed up of the same woke shows that are appearing.' Ms Forbes had appeared at Summerhall on August 7 as part of the Herald's Unspun Live at the Fringe series of political interviews. Artists were said to have been so 'terrified' that they set up a 'safe room' while she was at the venue, while bosses at the venue issued an apology. A source at Sumerhall Arts, which was awarded £608,302 of public cash from Scottish Government quango Creative Scotland in January, said: 'This event was booked as a series of longform interviews prior to the guest list being confirmed. 'Summerhall Arts' primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of the artists and performers we work with, and going forward we will be developing robust, proactive inclusion and wellbeing policies that would prevent this oversight in our bookings process happening again. 'Summerhall Arts issued a communication to all artists making them aware of the event.' Scottish Conservative equalities spokesman Tess White said: 'This is an outrageous and unacceptable statement from a venue that is clearly detached from reality. 'Not only is this a scandalous attempt to curtail free speech, it is seemingly oblivious to the Supreme Court ruling which fully vindicated in law those whom Summerhall wishes to silence. 'As for its concern for 'the safety and wellbeing' of artists, this clearly doesn't extend to female artists. 'While Kate Forbes has been disgracefully treated, she might reflect that it's the SNP which imposed this toxic gender ideology across Scottish public life, and it's her current party leader who refuses to disown it.' During the interview, presenter Andrew Learmonth highlighted that there were people in the building 'who didn't want this show to go ahead', complained to management and wanted it to be cancelled because they 'didn't like what they think of your views, particularly around gender, sex and trans issues'. Ms Forbes said: 'These issues have been well documented and can I just say how brilliant it is for us to have freedom of speech in this country.' She said there needs to be spaces where people can have discussion and debate, and added: 'My approach is to respect the fact and to appreciate the fact that a lot of people disagree with me. 'I think it is a reflection on a healthy democracy that people both agree with me and disagree with me. 'I am not anti any human being. I am taught to love my neighbour as myself, which is to give them greater respect, greater honour and greater appreciation than I would expect myself.' In 2023, The Stand announced it had cancelled Ms Cherry's appearance because staff were not comfortable with her views on transgender issues. The appearance eventually went ahead after the threat of legal action, with the venue saying it took legal advice and accepted the decision was 'unfair and constituted unlawful discrimination against Ms Cherry'. Responding to the freedom of speech row, Ms Forbes said: 'As I stated at the event, I fervently believe in freedom of speech. Any effort to 'cancel' people, especially politicians, undermines democracy. 'Many people attended the Herald event and it is important that we could freely discuss and debate matters in a respectful manner. 'I respect and acknowledge the fact that in a liberal democracy there are people who will agree with me and others who will disagree with me. 'That is all the more reason to create events where the audience and journalists can question politicians openly, as the Herald did.'
BreakingNews.ie
7 days ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Nicola Sturgeon hints she could debate JK Rowling over trans rights controversy
Nicola Sturgeon has indicated she could debate trans rights issues with JK Rowling, but said she did not think the Harry Potter author – who has been a vocal critic of hers – would take part in such a clash. Rowling has been a high-profile opponent of the gender reforms Ms Sturgeon sought to introduce, famously wearing a T-shirt branding the former first minister a 'destroyer of women's rights'. Advertisement She was first minister when the Scottish Government introduced legislation – which was eventually blocked by Westminster – which would have given transgender people the right to self-identify into their preferred gender. Despite the furious row that erupted over the controversial policy – which critics claimed would allow biological men to access women-only spaces – Ms Sturgeon declared she would 'always stand up for rights, for equality, for minority rights'. She said she believes 'forces on the far right' have sought to 'weaponise' the issue to seek to 'push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights, minority rights, women's rights actually'. Ms Sturgeon spoke out on the issue as she appeared on BBC Breakfast as her memoir, titled Frankly, was published. Advertisement She accepted there are 'many, many people' who disagreed with her on the issue of gender reforms, adding 'probably the majority' of her opponents 'come from a genuine place'. But Ms Sturgeon said: 'There are also people – and I don't know how anybody can deny this – forces on the far right who have weaponised this issue, who want to use the trans issue to push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights, minority rights, women's rights actually.' She told how she had come in for 'probably the most horrific abuse on this issue' than on any other topic, with the former first minister adding some of the abuse had been 'deeply misogynistic'. She added: 'There's some people in this debate who definitely seem to spend a lot more time thinking about me than I spend thinking about them. Advertisement Thank you for your many kind offers, of which there were a considerable amount. Watch my website for my review of 'Frankly', the memoir of Scotland's (checks notes) most persecuted, misunderstood, self-critical, open-to-debate, feminist-to-her-fingertips ex-First Minister. — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 12, 2025 'But I will always stand up for rights, for equality, for minority rights. 'There have been many times in my political career when I would have made my own life easier by staying silent on some things. 'I don't want to be that person, I want to stand up for things I believe in.' Asked if she would debate Rowling, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I will debate with many people, but I don't think JK Rowling would be willing to do that. Advertisement 'But who knows, maybe she would.' She added: 'One of the things my critics cannot say about me is I don't debate with people – I have probably done more debates than any other leader in the UK, I will debate with anybody.' Rowling, meanwhile, said on X – formerly known as Twitter – that she would review Frankly on her website, describing the book as being 'the memoir of Scotland's (checks notes) most persecuted, misunderstood, self-critical, open-to-debate, feminist-to-her-fingertips ex-first minister'.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nicola Sturgeon hints she could debate JK Rowling over trans rights controversy
Nicola Sturgeon has indicated she could debate trans rights issues with JK Rowling, but said she did not think the Harry Potter author – who has been a vocal critic of hers – would take part in such a clash. Rowling has been a high-profile opponent of the gender reforms Ms Sturgeon sought to introduce, famously wearing a T-shirt branding the former first minister a 'destroyer of women's rights'. She was first minister when the Scottish Government introduced legislation – which was eventually blocked by Westminster – which would have given transgender people the right to self-identify into their preferred gender. Despite the furious row that erupted over the controversial policy – which critics claimed would allow biological men to access women-only spaces – Ms Sturgeon declared she would 'always stand up for rights, for equality, for minority rights'. She said she believes 'forces on the far right' have sought to 'weaponise' the issue to seek to 'push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights, minority rights, women's rights actually'. Ms Sturgeon spoke out on the issue as she appeared on BBC Breakfast as her memoir, titled Frankly, was published. She accepted there are 'many, many people' who disagreed with her on the issue of gender reforms, adding 'probably the majority' of her opponents 'come from a genuine place'. But Ms Sturgeon said: 'There are also people – and I don't know how anybody can deny this – forces on the far right who have weaponised this issue, who want to use the trans issue to push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights, minority rights, women's rights actually.' She told how she had come in for 'probably the most horrific abuse on this issue' than on any other topic, with the former first minister adding some of the abuse had been 'deeply misogynistic'. She added: 'There's some people in this debate who definitely seem to spend a lot more time thinking about me than I spend thinking about them. 'But I will always stand up for rights, for equality, for minority rights. 'There have been many times in my political career when I would have made my own life easier by staying silent on some things. 'I don't want to be that person, I want to stand up for things I believe in.' Asked if she would debate Rowling, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I will debate with many people, but I don't think JK Rowling would be willing to do that. 'But who knows, maybe she would.' She added: 'One of the things my critics cannot say about me is I don't debate with people – I have probably done more debates than any other leader in the UK, I will debate with anybody.' Rowling, meanwhile, said on X – formerly known as Twitter – that she would review Frankly on her website, describing the book as being 'the memoir of Scotland's (checks notes) most persecuted, misunderstood, self-critical, open-to-debate, feminist-to-her-fingertips ex-first minister'.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Nicola Sturgeon hints she could debate JK Rowling over trans rights controversy
Nicola Sturgeon has indicated she could debate trans rights issues with JK Rowling, but said she did not think the Harry Potter author – who has been a vocal critic of hers – would take part in such a clash. Rowling has been a high-profile opponent of the gender reforms Ms Sturgeon sought to introduce, famously wearing a T-shirt branding the former first minister a 'destroyer of women's rights'. She was first minister when the Scottish Government introduced legislation – which was eventually blocked by Westminster – which would have given transgender people the right to self-identify into their preferred gender. Despite the furious row that erupted over the controversial policy – which critics claimed would allow biological men to access women-only spaces – Ms Sturgeon declared she would 'always stand up for rights, for equality, for minority rights'. She said she believes 'forces on the far right' have sought to 'weaponise' the issue to seek to 'push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights, minority rights, women's rights actually'. Ms Sturgeon spoke out on the issue as she appeared on BBC Breakfast as her memoir, titled Frankly, was published. She accepted there are 'many, many people' who disagreed with her on the issue of gender reforms, adding 'probably the majority' of her opponents 'come from a genuine place'. But Ms Sturgeon said: 'There are also people – and I don't know how anybody can deny this – forces on the far right who have weaponised this issue, who want to use the trans issue to push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights, minority rights, women's rights actually.' She told how she had come in for 'probably the most horrific abuse on this issue' than on any other topic, with the former first minister adding some of the abuse had been 'deeply misogynistic'. She added: 'There's some people in this debate who definitely seem to spend a lot more time thinking about me than I spend thinking about them. 'But I will always stand up for rights, for equality, for minority rights. 'There have been many times in my political career when I would have made my own life easier by staying silent on some things. 'I don't want to be that person, I want to stand up for things I believe in.' Asked if she would debate Rowling, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I will debate with many people, but I don't think JK Rowling would be willing to do that. 'But who knows, maybe she would.' She added: ' One of the things my critics cannot say about me is I don't debate with people – I have probably done more debates than any other leader in the UK, I will debate with anybody.' Rowling, meanwhile, said on X – formerly known as Twitter – that she would review Frankly on her website, describing the book as being 'the memoir of Scotland's (checks notes) most persecuted, misunderstood, self-critical, open-to-debate, feminist-to-her-fingertips ex-first minister'.
