Nicola Sturgeon slams treatment of trans people in Scotland | Nicola Sturgeon has said she believes society will look back and “feel a sense of collective shame” at the vilification of trans people.
by backupJM
Nicola Sturgeon slams treatment of trans people in Scotland | Nicola Sturgeon has said she believes society will look back and “feel a sense of collective shame” at the vilification of trans people.
by backupJM
22 comments
>Sturgeon told journalists that while she regretted “the inability to debate things civilly and respectfully”, she would “never apologise for trying to make life better for one of the most stigmatised, discriminated against sections of our society”.
>She said: “What I regret about issue, 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.
>”On that issue, what I would say is we need to all, I think, be a bit more respectful in the debate that we have.
>”I think we’ll look back as a society – I hope it’s 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, and I think all of us should perhaps reflect on that.
>”So I will never apologise for trying to make life better for one of the most stigmatised, discriminated against sections of our society.
>”Many of the claims that are made about a Gender Recognition Bill – that remember, isn’t even force – I don’t think stand up to scrutiny, but of course others will have their say too.”
Apprehensively posting this because I know how heated these threads can become, but I thought it was worth posting, and in my opinion, I think she’s correct.
She could have done more about the transphobic members of her own party, expelling the likes of Joanna Cherry for instance, but she’s not wrong here.
Absolutely. One day we will look back at people like Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer the same way we look back at Thatcher for Section 28.
All the while not learning anything and falling for the next culture war spook that the right wing lays down of course.
People should never be made into political footballs
Good to see she never let homophobes and TERFs change her views.
She’s right. About this at least.
Is she not in jail yet?
It is not entirely wrong to dismiss the concerns of biological women – they’re scared, and this fear should be addressed by showing that trans folks are nothing to fear – dismissal of these concerns plays, counterintuitively, into the hands of transphobes.
Be no different than looking back to the homophobes in their heyday, just a different target with essentially the same arguments.
The GRR Bill was the best thing that could’ve happened for trans people in the last 15 years. While the Tories made it their mission to destroy our rights (which Labour adopted to poach votes) Nicola and the SNP were fighting for us.
I’m sure SeaOwl, LisBoa and the rest of the local transphobes will be filling these replies with hate and bile as they always do, but I thank Nicola from the bottom of my heart for the work she put in for us.
I know she’s not a saint and I don’t agree with her on everything, but I will admit there’s a part of me that’s fiercely proud of her for saying this.
I have lost friends due to them falling down the terf rabbit hole and I really don’t think people understand how cruel the general public are to trans people who are just trying to live their own lives. The terf mindset is full of conspiracy theories, and I honestly think it’s similar to extreme beliefs you see in the incel movement. I do think it took some bravery for Sturgeon to publicly support trans people so explicitly, especially when you consider the current climate.
I feel bad about how the entire discussion has happened. Trans people have legitimate needs and biological women have legitimate concerns. But we allowed small numbers of extremists to dictate the debate and turn it into a zero sum game culture war boxing match.
The end result is that vulnerable people, across the board, have been hurt.
Of course it will and getting any fucker to admit they fell for it/participated it will be near impossible, just like when the rancid UK decided to stop persecuting gay people quite so much.
I think she could and should have done more for trans people but she did try in difficult circumstances. She is right in this
Good on Nicola for this. She’s right.
I’m trans, I’ve never been a member of, or consistently voted for one particular party
Nicola has always stood on the side of LGBT and specifically trans folk, and I never doubted her support for a second
She is right. It was treated as a wedge issue to attack the SNP. Utterly despicable.
Of course. Society has done the same repeatedly over the decades; whether based on skin tone, religion, sexual preference and now gender preference – the rabid dog-whistle bigots can always find a new target for their anger.
She’s right, but its far too little and far too late.
Nicola agreeing to hold a second consultation on the GRR bill had catastrophic consequences – all of which she was warned of by LGBT+ SNP members – not only for trans rights, but for devolved powers and the independence movement.
There was a time before the culture war was so inflamed, and she squandered it by capitulating to the (at the time) few TERFs within the SNP. This allowed bad actors like Joanna Cherry, FWS, Sex Matters and other hate groups to sow the seeds of the culture war and outright **lie** about what GRR even was.
Now, Section 35 can be used against any legislation UKGov disagrees with, otherwise progressive pro-indy folk have had their brains rotted with transphobia and the SNP is shifting further to the right.
At least she tried to do something unlike all of the other parties who sat there and complaint but didn’t bring any solutions to the problem
Sturgeon is great!
One day, we will look back and it will always have been wrong
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