Former Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s continued support of trans people has been described as “real allyship”.
Sturgeon told reporters at the Scottish parliament on Tuesday (6 May) that she believed trans people’s lives in the UK were at risk of being made “unliveable” thanks to continued attacks on their rights. It’s the first time she’s commented since the UK Supreme Court ruled on the definitions of “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act, last month.
The verdict was followed by guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which recommended trans women should not be permitted to use women’s facilities, and trans men should not be permitted to use the men’s.
In some circumstances, it went on to say, trans women should not to be allowed in the men’s facilities, and trans men not be permitted to use the women’s.
Sturgeon said that, while she accepted the court ruling was “by very definition… the law of the land,” she was concerned by the implications of the EHRC’s guidance.
“The question for me, and I think for a lot of people, is how that is now translated into practice. Can that be done in a way that protects women but also allows trans people to live their lives with dignity and in a safe and accepted way?
“I would be very concerned if that interim guidance became the final guidance and I hope that is not the case because that potentially makes the lives of trans people almost unliveable.”
She went on to say: “It certainly doesn’t make a single woman any safer because the threat to women, as we all know, comes from predatory and abusive men.”
Prime minister Keir Starmer had expressed pleasure at the “clarity” the court ruling provided, saying he no longer believed trans women are women.
Sturgeon’s continued support of trans people ‘takes a spine’
Sturgeon’s comments were welcomed with people saying it “takes a spine” to take such a stance when many politicians were U-turning on trans rights.
“It’s literally this easy for politicians to put two brain cells together and say this,” one person wrote on social media. Another said: “I never agreed with her 100 per cent [but] I will always respect her allyship.”
Sturgeon was always a friend of LGBTQ+ community while first minister. Despite her resignation in 2023, she has remained an MSP and has continued to fight transphobic attacks in the political sphere, predicting that society would look back in “shame” at the way trans men and women have been treated.
“What I regret about much of political discourse right now, and I take my share of responsibility for it, is the inability to debate things civilly and respectfully,” she said.
“I think we’ll look back as a society – I hope sooner rather than later but who knows how long it will take – and feel a sense of collective shame at the way in which trans people have been vilified in our society. All of us should perhaps reflect on that.”
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