At a recent protest for trans+ rights in Dundee, Scotland
Scottish first minister John Swinney has said the Holyrood government has accepted the UK Supreme Court’s transphobic ruling.
He said it would “obviously” be engaging with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) interim guidance, which excludes trans+ people from single-sex spaces.
Only last month, Swinney said he would “protect the rights of everyone” at the STUC trade union federation conference.
But by refusing to stand up to the EHRC, his promises to defend trans+ rights are empty.
Jess, a trans woman and activist in Glasgow, slammed the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) as “an abdication of responsibility of the most disgusting kind”. “Swinney is avoiding taking up the arguments for trans+ rights within his own party,” she told Socialist Worker.
“The government is leaving us all waiting in fear. What will this guidance mean for us?
“The question is hanging over our heads because the SNP still remains divided over whether trans women are women. They will not take a firm stance and support us.”
Swinney has cautioned workplaces to wait until the final guidance is published in the summer before implementing any changes. But he has not rejected the ruling—and has emboldened the transphobes and bigots.
Former SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon had taken a harder line on trans+ rights. Her government put forward the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, a proposal that Swinney backed.
This would have allowed trans+ people to self-identify without having to go through a lengthy bureaucratic and medical process.
The Scottish parliament passed the bill in 2022, but it was then blocked by the then Tory government.
But not before causing a huge rupture within the SNP. The party suffered its largest backbench revolt in its 15 years in office. Seven SNP members voted against the party whip and two abstained.
It lost an MSP and other high-profile members to the Alba party, which supports independence but is reactionary.
Swinney has been trying to repair the divisions—and he’s hoping the Supreme Court ruling may give him a route to do just that. He can defer to the law as indisputable, even if he is not an advocate of it.
On Wednesday, Swinney said his role now was to “bring people together”. He said that we had to accept the Supreme Court as the “ultimate decision maker on the interpretation of the law”.
It’s a cowardly example of capitulation—and it should be called out as such.
Swinney has made it clear the SNP is not on the side of trans+ people as they face a huge assault from the British state.
It’s down to the movement to fight back and defend trans people and their access to services, spaces and public life.
Mobilisations on the streets and unions taking action to defy the ruling and guidance in workplaces is vital.
Fight every attempt to exclude, isolate and attack trans+ people
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