Ahead of Thursday’s local elections, Nicola Sturgeon has refused to define what a \u2018woman\u2019 is claiming that oversimplifying the gender discussion risks harming trans people, who are the “most stigmatised and discriminated against group in our society.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SNP wants to enable Scots to alter their legal sex by making a statement, and with a crucial vote coming up this week, the debate has turned into a doorstep issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked to define the word woman, she said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to. I\u2019m just not going to get into this debate at a level that\u2019s about simplified and lurid headlines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added: \u201cTrans people are amongst, possibly the most, stigmatised and discriminated-against minorities in our society. And every time we oversimplify this debate, trans people actually suffer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sturgeon continued, \u201cI think it\u2019s important, they\u2019re such a tiny minority, that we actually take the issues around protecting and enhancing the rights of trans people seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some trans activists argue that a transgender woman is literally a woman, regardless of their biological sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Female rights activists have written to politicians and election candidates, urging them to define the term “woman,” claiming that anybody who does not respond with the dictionary definition of “adult human female” should be distrusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Women Scotland (FWS) Director Susan Smith added: \u201cThis is a First Minister who claims to stand against sexism in politics, yet can\u2019t bring herself to meet and talk to women harmed by her policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHer track record on dealing with harassment and abuse in her own party leaves much to be desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHer self-ID proposals are not about \u2018trans people\u2019 but for anyone who chooses, for whatever reason, to change sex in law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll the evidence of harms to girls in school forced to use mixed-sex facilities, to women in prison, to the hundreds of girls who are being affirmed as the opposite sex and set on a path to lifelong medicalisation is to be dismissed and discounted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Sturgeon\u2019s interview with The Times came weeks after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer struggled to say whether he believes it is possible for a woman to have a penis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the \u201cbasic facts of biology\u201d are \u201coverwhelmingly important\u201d in distinguishing between a man and a woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Sturgeon’s interview with The Times comes only weeks after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer hesitated to specify whether a woman can have a penis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sturgeon insists that there was no conflict between women\u2019s rights and trans rights as new reforms making it easier for people to change their sex go through Holyrood, making it to a point that she’ll defend it \u2018until her dying breath\u2019.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahead of Thursday’s local elections, Nicola Sturgeon has refused to define what a \u2018woman\u2019 is claiming that oversimplifying the gender discussion risks harming trans people, who are the “most stigmatised … <\/p>\n