NICOLA Sturgeon said she regretted “not being able to bring a more rational approach” to the trans rights debate as she announced she was stepping down as First Minister.
The SNP leader – who will formally quit when a new leader is elected – denied she was stepping down as a result of the row over the Scottish Government’s transgender law reforms and a number of high-profile scandals involving trans prisoners.
But she said she regretted not being able to cool down those debates, including that around gender recognition reform, which she said became infected with voters’ opinions about her and about independence more generally.
She told a press conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning: “I suppose when I look at some of the issues that are being hotly debated in Scotland right now, one of the things that I do regret, I suppose, is not being able to bring a more rational approach to these debates and I think that goes back to some of what I said earlier.
“These debates, some of them, one in particular right now is obviously controversial in its own right but I think layered onto the top of that has been people’s views about me, about independence and I think suddenly debates that should be rational and that we should be capable as a country of having rationally become something very different.”
It comes after a public debate about whether the Scottish Government was right to legislate to make it easier for people to change their gender on official documents. She was branded a “destroyer of women’s rights” by Harry Potter author JK Rowling (below).
In turn, the First Minister said that opponents of her plans were using the issue as a shield for transphobia, misogyny and racism.
In a swipe to those questioning her feminist credentials, she added: “I will always be a voice for inclusion, for equality, for human rights and dignity.
"I have been, am and will always be a feminist, I will fight for women’s rights and I will stand up against threats to women’s rights every day that I have breath in my body.
"But I’ll also stand up for any stigmatised, discriminated against, marginalised and vulnerable group in society and I believe … these things must, in any inclusive, liberal society find ways of co-existing.”
