Humiliated SNP Government finally admits 'in law, people are either male or female'

[IwantToRetire]

A freedom of information request overruled John Swinney refusing to say whether a trans women was a woman as the government admit defeat in self-ID policy.

The First Minister previously insisted before the Supreme Court ruling that he believed that trans women were women but now refuses to answer this question. But his administration have now overruled his position.

In response to a freedom of information request by the Scottish Daily Express an official confirmed that "the position of the Scottish Government was, and is, that of the law. In law, people are either male or female."

From https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/humiliated-snp-government-finally-admits-35253001

(Couldn't see a thread about this, but has probably come up on other threads. But thought the headline deserved a FWR thread title. And of course thanks to FWS for making this statement possible, even if made grudgingly.)

By chance I came across this. Haven't read in detail so hope it is as my skim read has suggested.

The law? That’s just a vibe now

Imagine, for a moment, that the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest legal authority in the land, makes a definitive ruling. Let’s say it rules, for argument’s sake, that “woman” means adult human female. You know, the definition that once required no judicial clarification.

Now imagine public bodies, civil servants, NHS Trusts, equalities officers, university policy units, and your local quango quietly glance at the ruling… then just shrug.

“We see your legal reality,” they say. “But we’re going to stick with our truth instead.”

Welcome to Scotland in 2025, where the rule of law isn’t enforced, it’s merely suggested. A vibe. A feeling. Something to be considered, if convenient. A politely worded note from the dusty old types in wigs, useful only if it flatters the ideology of a highly politicised managerial class.

We’re being ruled by the Feelings Department

Continues at https://thinkscotland.org/2025/05/the-law-thats-just-a-vibe-now/

Thanks for sharing this.

Why has this ideology taken such a hold in Scotland? I haven’t been there for over 20 years but don’t recall anyone mentioning they were trans or non binary or whatever but seems as if half the country has got some alphabet identity now. Where were these people back in the 90s?

Oh, I miss the 90s 😂
The transvestites were much more secretive, and if they attempted to go in the women's toilets they'd get arrested and/or a kicking. Transsexuals were few and far between, and would mostly try to get on with life in a normal way. But that was before the internet came along, and all the men with fetishes discovered other men who shared those fetishes.
The SNP, meanwhile, have been largely driven by having a chip on their collective shoulder and trying to make Scotland better than England in every way. They believe that being the most progressive equates to being morally superior. Unfortunately they jumped aboard the wrong bandwagon, and here we are.
That's my very basic analysis. I should add, I used to support independence in principle and I voted SNP in the past. Now I feel embarrassed for them; we got devolution and look what we did!

I don’t believe it’s higher numbers than anywhere else in uk. I personally only know of 2 trans identified people. But then I’m not a 20 year old student!

In Scotland, for several years Nicola sturgeon led a coalition government with the Greens. That meant the Greens policies had a seat at government.
The voting system for the Scottish parliament has an element of proportional representation which means we do end up with coalition Govs and small parties can end up with a far bigger say than the people voted for!
Im sure that’s why Scotland ended up with this all at a legislative level, which spectacularly failed in self ID and then majorly backfired on them once the formidable FWS got involved

It's a small country with a correspondingly small political class which creates a tendency to monolithic consensus and nepotism.

There’s also a symbiotic relationship between the third sector and government, where the government funds the third sector to lobby the government to introduce policies that the government wants to introduce. Here too, a small layer of people move from quango job to quango job, copying and pasting their diversity policies as they go.

This is very effective at excluding the majority of Scots from political decisions.

Thanks @IwantToRetire that’s a great article by AnneMarie Green - but it does beg the question, what do we do when the government and many important institutions don’t want to obey the law and don’t think they have to?

I would add that the SNP, when they had a vision for an independent Scotland, were modelling it on the Republic of Ireland. This would mean making the country attractive to overseas investment, particularly US tech and financial services companies, and that would mean having a strong LGBT+ culture.

And so they pushed it like mad, aided by the strong youth wing in the party. Sturgeon apparently said "The young yings want it" when pressed on why they were so intent on self ID. And it did seem for a time as if student politics was running party policy.

I know. That's why I started another thread at the same time about the HoC ignoring the interim guidelines by the EHRC.

Maybe we could say we dont want to recognise the GRA?