A CAMPAIGN group has hit out after a web address associated with their organisation was found to redirect to the Alba Party’s website.
Women For Independence (WFI) said it was “disappointing and disingenuous” that an anonymous figure bought the web domain womenforindependence.scot and made it redirect to a section of Alba’s website outlining the party’s stance on trans rights.
It is not known who is behind the move and Alba have flatly rejected owning the address. Women For Independence’s real website is wfi.scot.
It comes after the women-led independence group hit the headlines this week after ex-treasurer Natalie McGarry was found guilty of embezzling thousands from the group after other members raised concerns about the fraudster to police.
McGarry, the former SNP MP for Glasgow East, faces the threat of imprisonment over the verdict.
The website links to a statement from Alba’s women’s convener Caroline McAllister, which outlines the party’s opposition to proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act. This policy aims to make it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate.
However WFI, founded in 2012, is supportive of the proposed reforms which are expected to be debated again in Holyrood in the next year.
It is a contentious issue among some in the independence movement and is a key point of difference between the SNP – which is broadly supportive of the changes – and Alba which is calling for the effort to be paused.
Suzanne McLaughlin, a member of WFI’s national committee and feminist campaigner, told The National the person responsible was trying to cash in on the “newsworthiness” of the organisation because of the recent trial.
She said: “We’re furious. We are a progressive and inclusive organisation and that includes trans women.
“Not every single woman who heard what happened yesterday and was Googling WFI will know all the ins and outs.
“The very thought that any woman could go to that page and think that WFI are saying those types of things is abhorrent."
A spokeswoman for WFI said the domain name purchase meant Alba could “benefit from our decade of activism, whilst putting forward values that are different to ours”.
An Alba spokesperson said: “Alba Party do not own the domain in question but it is no surprise that women that support independence also support Alba Party and have chosen to refer other women to one of our statements on Gender Recognition.
“Alba Party is made up of many members, like the majority of the Scottish public, that have concerns over the Scottish Government’s proposals to remove current safeguards in place within the Gender Recognition Act - which will make it much easier for any person born male to identify as a woman and then gain access to female-only spaces.
“At the moment anyone that expresses concerns over the Government’s policy aims, particularly women, face a very toxic and abusive response.
“The Scottish Government has failed miserably to listen to all views and they have refused to accept that the rights of women and people that identify as trans fundamentally conflict in their proposals.”
