NICOLA Sturgeon has been accosted by journalists over the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.
The former first minister told the Mail on Sunday at an event in Glasgow that her views on the issue were “well known”.
The Glasgow MSP has been criticised in recent weeks for her seeming refusal to speak on the issue, and not appearing in Holyrood.
The Supreme Court ruled that under the Equality Act 2010, “woman” referred to biological sex, and not a transgender woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).
Sturgeon was first minister when the Scottish Parliament passed its Gender Recognition Reform Act in 2022, which would allow transgender people to self-identify and simplified the requirements to acquire a GRC, before it was blocked by Westminster from becoming law.
The Mail on Sunday confronted Sturgeon on her views at an SNP “coffee with Nicola” event in Govan last week.
Asked for her reaction to the ruling, Sturgeon said: “I think my views are well known.”
Pushed on what those views were, she replied: “I think you know.”
Initially, FWS challenged the Scottish Government over the definition in relation to guidance on gender representation on public boards. Numerous hearings and appeals in the Court of Session led for the case to be considered by the Supreme Court.
Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who supported the FWS case and has been outspoken on her gender critical views, previously said: “If Nicola Sturgeon believes the Supreme Court got it wrong, she should come out and say so and explain why she thinks that. That silence, to my mind, is just redolent of cowardice.”
It comes as Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman faces a vote on her position as a member of Holyrood’s Equalities Committee, following criticism she made of the Supreme Court’s decision.
