Nicola Sturgeon is to blame for ‘toxifying’ the trans debate

Displaying a brass neck that is surely visible from space, Nicola Sturgeon has claimed that ‘right-wing media’ and ‘populist voices’ have created a ‘toxic, divisive and unpleasant’ political environment.

The former Scottish first minister claimed in comments reported in today’s Guardian that the backlash to the SNP’s ill-fated Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill – which would have introduced gender self-identification north of the border – showed that ‘civilised debate’ is impossible today. ‘There were forces that muscled into [the trans-rights] debate who I think had a bigger agenda in terms of rights more generally’, she claimed.

This has become a familiar refrain from Sturgeon since she resigned in March 2023, amid assorted trans-related scandals, including the jaw-dropping decision to allow rapists to serve their time in women’s prisons. As Sturgeon now tells it, when the SNP government first started to push for a reform of gender-recognition law in 2016, the issue generated little public opposition. But then right-wing culture warriors supposedly intervened. Apparently, they ‘polarised’ and ‘toxified’ the debate, turning the public against the bill – and against Sturgeon herself.

The lack of self-awareness on Sturgeon’s part is stunning. If anyone in Scotland is guilty of ‘toxifying’ the debate over gender-recognition laws and so-called trans rights more broadly, it is surely Sturgeon and her enablers. This, lest we forget, is how Sturgeon spoke of her political opponents in an interview for The News Agents podcast in January 2023: She claimed that many were using ‘women’s rights as a sort of cloak of acceptability to cover up what is transphobia’. And then came the cherry on top: ‘Just as they’re transphobic, you’ll also find that they’re deeply misogynist, often homophobic, possibly some of them racist as well.’

That’s right, such was Sturgeon’s commitment to ‘civilised debate’ she was willing to cast all opponents of her gender bill as transphobic and, just for good measure, probably racist, too. That sounds like a pretty polarising, toxifying approach to debate to me.

Of course, it’s simply untrue to say that ‘right-wing media’ and ‘populists’ voices ‘toxified’ the debate over the gender bill. Journalists and politicians, not to mention many members of the public, were simply criticising a deeply flawed piece of legislation. It’s true that reform of gender-recognition laws didn’t generate much opposition when it was first mooted nearly a decade ago. But that was only because few were paying much attention.

As time went on, however, the more people learned what gender self-ID entailed, from letting men into women’s toilets to placing male sex offenders in women’s prisons, the more they didn’t like it. This was a law that would have seriously endangered the rights and safety of Scottish women and children. It is only natural that it was met with significant opposition.

The problem was that Sturgeon and Co simply refused to tolerate any opposition to the bill. Instead, they demonised and abused anyone who raised concerns. They chased feminists like MSP Joan McAlpine and MP Joanna Cherry out of the SNP for insisting that there was a biological basis to sex. And they damned all critics as hateful bigots.

Sturgeon may have left office nearly two years ago. But she’s clearly no closer to recognising her role in ‘toxifying’ Scottish politics.

Tim Black is a spiked columnist.