With her ‘nonsense’ reform of gender norms, Nicola Sturgeon has been charged with ‘throwing away’ three decades of Scottish independence advocacy.
Alex Salmond, a former leader of the SNP, unleashed a fiery assault on his successor, accusing him of destroying their independence ideal with “daft philosophy.”
The remarks by Mr. Salmond come amid mounting evidence that Ms. Sturgeon is suffering severe political harm as a result of the contentious effort to relax gender identity rules, which Westminster has obstructed.
In a nerve-wracking news appearance yesterday, Mr. Sturgeon stumbled when she was asked repeatedly whether she thought transgender rapist Isla Bryson was a woman.
She was compelled to acknowledge that SNP lawmakers who oppose gender laws won’t be expelled from the organization.
The former first minister of Scotland, Mr. Salmond, who now leads the Alba Party, is reportedly seen speaking on camera at a Burns Supper on Saturday in Dundee.
The necessity to win over “every area and segment” of Scotland, he said, was something the independence movement’s leaders “fully knew.”
Nevertheless, he continued, “to get to a position where you say to a majority of our people that you cannot have single-sex spaces, priced and worked for and strived for, because of some daft ideology imported from elsewhere – and as we’ve seen, imperfectly understood by its proponents in Scotland” (“borders on the totally absurd”), is absurd.”
Mr. Salmond said that the gender controversy was to blame for the recent decline in support for independence.
‘Thirty years of gradually building, building, and building until we get independence over 50% and then thrown away with some self-indulgent nonsense, which even if it were right – which it is nae – would hardly be tactically the most astute manoeuvre when we’re supposed to be taking Scotland to its next date with destiny,’ he said.
The gender of Bryson, who was transferred to a male jail after a public outrage about their placement in a women’s prison, was carefully avoided by Ms. Sturgeon at the news conference yesterday.
But when media saw that the First Minister had referred to Bryson as “she,” Ms. Sturgeon, who was obviously irritated, said, “Don’t read anything into… I’m attempting to think clearly…
Instead of turning it into a story for the news headlines, I’m attempting to solve the problems. I’m attempting to approach this situation’s problems logically.
When asked why she stated “her,” Ms. Sturgeon said, “I don’t recall… I’ll believe you on that.
“Isla Bryson describes herself as a woman, but in the context of the prison service, that is not the crucial aspect here,” Isla Bryson says.
The offense that the person committed and was found guilty of is “the relevant factor.”
Asked repeatedly by the media whether she thought Bryson was a woman, Ms. Sturgeon said, “She views herself as a woman, I consider the guy as a rapist.” and in the context of the jail term, the fact that the person was found guilty of rape is what counts, and that is what we are discussing here.
The question of whether Bryson was “at it” in altering his gender was also put to Ms. Sturgeon.
The most crucial descriptor for this person, according to Ms. Sturgeon, is that they are rapists.
They were found guilty of rape, and they are now incarcerated in a male jail.
As a result, you deal with the individual rather than further demonizing the whole group.
The First Minister emphasized that it is crucial to have “clarity” and reiterated that her stance on contesting the UK government’s use of Section 35 to overturn her gender legislation has not changed.
By implying that opponents of the gender recognition legislation won’t have to quit the party, Ms. Sturgeon attempted to quell the internal strife within the SNP.
Shirley-Anne Somerville, a spokesperson for the education department, said dissidents should “consider” whether they want to remain in the party for the next election.
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