NICOLA Sturgeon has admitted she made a mistake in how she handled the controversial gender ID row.
The former First Minister has spoken to ITV News in an exclusive interview ahead of her memoir being released next week.
ITV NEWSNicola Sturgeon revealed her ‘mistake’ in the ITV interview[/caption]
ITV NEWSThe former first minister she underestimated the anger over the bill[/caption]
PAThe row was escalated when it emerged trans double-rapist Isla Bryson had been housed in a women’s jail[/caption]
And in a sneak preview ahead of the full interveiw being aired on Monday night, Ms Sturgeon told ITV’s Julie Etchingham she did not predict the anger from opponents to the bill.
She said: “I didn’t anticipate as much as I should, or engage as much as I should, on some of the concerns that might then be triggered.”
But the ex-SNP leader insisted her backing of trans rights was still correct – but admitted she should have “taken a step back”.
She added: “I fervently believe that the rights of women and the interests of trans people are not irreconcilable at all. I should have taken a step back and said, ‘How do we achieve this?’.”
Her reverse-ferret is the latest twist in the saga over self-ID laws which go back to 2017 when the SNP first revealed the planned legal changes.
The law would have removed the need for trans people to be diagnosed with so-called gender dysphoria by a doctor in order to change their legally-recognised sex via a process known as a gender recognition certificate.
It also planned to lower the age someone could apply for one from 18 to 16, and cut the amount of time someone would have to live in their “acquired gender” from two years to just three months.
The plans sparked outcry from feminist groups despite being backed by LGBT organisations – who warned they would allow biological men into single sex spaces and increasing the risk of sexual assault or harassment.
They were also heavily criticised by high profile critics including Harry Potter author JK Rowling who blasted Ms Sturgeon as the “destroyer of women’s rights”.
In December 2022 after months of furious debate, MSPs from all parties passed the bill 86 votes to 39.
However, it was blocked from becoming law by the then-Tory UK Government who were challenged in court by the Scottish Government under Humza Yousaf’s leadership.
This cost taxpayers more than £375,000 in costs to the UK and Scottish Governments.
The SNP also chose to fight two legal challenges from For Women Scotland about the definition of a woman – with costs expected to top £625,000.
In April, judges ruled that the definition of “woman” under equality law was biological women – hailed as a “victory for common sense” by campaigners.
Ms Sturgeon faced furious pressure after trans double rapist, Isla Bryson, born Adam Graham, was housed in a women’s prison.
She refused to say whether the beast was a man or a woman and as recently as January doubled down, stating: “That person was a rapist.”
In the same interview, she also rejected the suggestion she hadn’t taken feminist concerns about the rules seriously.
Ms Sturgeon said: “The legal system we were trying to introduce has existed in the Republic of Ireland for years without any of the terrible consequences that were predicted here.
“If I was to sit here today and say I just wouldn’t do it, that would be to make my own life easier.”
She previously claimed opponents to the bill were criticising the bill with a “cloak of acceptability to cover up what is transphobia”.
The ex-Nats chief said some critics were: “deeply misogynist, often homophobic, possibly some of them racist as well”.
And after the UK’s equality watchdog said trans people should be banned from single sex facilities like bathrooms, Ms Sturgeon said the rules could make the lives of trans people “almost unliveable”.
She said: “I think that potentially makes the lives of trans people almost unliveable.
“It certainly doesn’t make a single woman any safer to do that because the threat to women comes from predatory and abusive men.”
The full interview airs on ITV tomorrow night at 7pm.
SUPPLIEDNicola Sturgeon’s memoir will be released next week[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
