Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2025
I am sorry, but I am going to make some headway. I will come back to the member on that.
This insidious campaign has been waged for more than a decade, and the same lobbyists also targeted the police, the judiciary, the national health service and many other branches of state. The truth is that, by the time the bill passed in 2022, self-ID had already become entrenched in many of Scotland’s public bodies and state-funded agencies, including prisons, schools, hospitals, the police and sporting groups. Even though that dangerous legislation was, quite rightly, blocked by the then Scottish secretary, Alister Jack, it has since become even more deep rooted.
Mass adoption of self-ID is why we are witnessing an extraordinary employment tribunal in Fife, which will conclude in due course. A female nurse who spent decades treating NHS patients was told that a male-bodied colleague was allowed into the female-only changing room. When she raised concerns with her bosses, she was subject to disciplinary action. It is little wonder that the NHS’s taxpayer-funded lawyers wanted this case played out behind closed doors. The fear is that lawyers are now queuing up for even more public money in similar anticipated cases—money that should be spent on front-line services.
All of that is happening because self-styled political progressives on the left are, in fact, deeply regressive, sacrificing women’s rights on the altar of their beliefs. The imposition of gender ideology thinking in schools is the most insidious part of it.