Nicola Sturgeon has fiercely denied allegations she is a “destroyer of women's rights” levied against her by controversial Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
Ms Rowling, who has faced criticism for comments about the transgender community, shared a photo of herself in a T-shirt emblazoned with the accusation Scotland's first minister is a “destroyer of women's rights” on Twitter.
Probed about Rowling’s denouncement of her on Friday morning, Ms Sturgeon hit back as she branded herself a “passionate feminist”.
“No, I've spent my entire life campaigning for women's rights and I'm a passionate feminist with lots of evidence behind that,” Ms Sturgeon told the BBC's Today programme when questioned about Ms Rowling’s claims about her.
“I respect people's views on this – people are entitled to express their views however they wish.”
Her comments come after Ms Rowling posted a photo of herself wearing the T-shirt attacking Ms Sturgeon in support of a demonstration held outside Holyrood on Thursday in opposition to reform of the Gender Recognition Act.
The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, going through Holyrood, would drop the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as well as curbing the time a person would be required to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months – but there would be a three-month “reflection period”.
A majority of MSPs on the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee of the Scottish parliament voiced their support for the main principles of the legislation in a report released on Thursday. The first vote on the bill is due to take place at the end of this week.
But Ms Rowling showed her support for the protest of over 100 people outside Holyrood, which featured speakers including former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.
“I stand in solidarity with ForWomenScot and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish parliament. #NoToSelfID,” Ms Rowling captioned the photo on Twitter.
Speaking on Friday morning, Ms Sturgeon said the legislation is about “reforming an existing process” and “doesn't give any more rights to trans people and it doesn't take any rights away from women”.
The politician, who is due to give a speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen this Monday, argued it is predatory men who pose a threat to women, rather than trans women being a danger.
She said: “Any man who seeks to abuse any process to attack women, we should deal with that, we shouldn’t stigmatise further an already stigmatised group of people.
“This is a statutory process, there are criminal implications for anybody who abuses that – it is not a process without significant conditions attached to it.”
The first minister argued the current process is “stigmatising, it's traumatic, it’s asking people to effectively prove they are mentally unwell”, as she warned anyone found to be abusing the process outlined in the legislation would be committing “a criminal offence”.
Ms Sturgeon, who has been SNP leader since 2014, said: “There are many, many real threats out there to women right now, from attacks – physical attacks, attacks of sexual violence, to the removal of abortion and reproductive rights women in countries like Iran are going through.
“There are no shortage of attacks on women that feminists, real feminists, as I consider myself to be, should be focusing on right now.”
Ms Sturgeon has pledged “zero tolerance” of transphobia in her party as well as frequently arguing feminism and trans rights must not be pitted against each other and deemed conflictual.
Additional reporting by wires
