Women’s rights group For Women Scotland believes First Minister John Swinney is “not ideologically committed” to gender ideology but thinks his government is waiting to be forced into implementing changes following the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman in April.
On the eve of the women’s rights group’s protest outside the Scottish Parliament to urge the government into implementing a guidance framework that recognises gender to mean biological sex, Susan Smith told GB News that she believes the SNP continue to be influenced by lobby groups pushing trans ideology.
Two-and-a-half years ago, the FWS founder member sat down with GB News to discuss Isla Bryson and the Gender Recognition Reform Bill vetoed by the first ever Section 35 order issued by Westminster.
At the time, she thought the debate around gender ideology debate couldn’t possibly get any more chaotic but this week the final public hearings took place in NHS nurse Sandie Peggie’s long-running employment tribunal against NHS Fife and now For Women Scotland is protesting the government’s lacklustre EHRC guidance for schools, hospitals and other public institutions.
“In a way it seems like no time has passed,” says Susan, looking back at January 2023, “but also it feels like we’ve been at it for a decade since because so much has happened.”
She refers to the parliament passing the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill in December 2022 as “a dark period”, admitting her grassroots group felt hopeless until “suddenly people woke up to the reality of self ID”.
Joined by fellow co-directors Trina Budge and Marion Calder, Susan formed For Women Scotland in 2018, when early plans for gender self-identification were beginning to take shape under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership.
From grassroots beginnings, their fight to correctly define a woman in society took them all the way to the Supreme Court, winning a historic victory against the Scottish Government in April after three judges unanimously agreed gender references biological sex in the Equality Act.
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Susan Smith believes that the SNP are 'just wanting to be forced' into action, but believes the First Minister is more pragmatic on gender than his predecessors
|GB NEWS
The legal victory upended years of gender ideology ingrained in public services and should have gone a considerable way to protecting women in single sex spaces but the Scottish Government has been slow to act in updating guidance in compliance.
Susan believes that the SNP are “just wanting to be forced” into action, but believes the First Minister is more pragmatic on gender than his predecessors.
“I don’t think John Swinney is ideologically committed to implementing trans ideology policies,” says Susan.
“I think on some level the Scottish Government is probably relieved we won because it was becoming such a toxic situation for them to try and justify and we saw how it affected Nicola Sturgeon towards the end of her period as First Minister.
Pro trans protests erupted across Britain following the Supreme Court ruling
|PA
“She obviously is a true believer but I’m not sure the government are now - I think what we are seeing now is moral cowardice.”
The Scottish Government responded to the Supreme Court decision by forming a short life working group in May to “act on the UK Supreme Court judgment, recognising the role of the EHRC and that an updated Code of Practice is being prepared.”
The outcomes were widely criticised from public sector groups, such as Museums Galleries Scotland, whose own consultation found, “there is no guidance on how to include trans people, there is only information on how to exclude them” and said preparatory advice “has not made sufficient effort to offer advice”.
In July a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government has made clear it accepts the Supreme Court ruling and since April has been taking forward the detailed work that is necessary as a consequence of the ruling. That work is ongoing.”
Caught in a catch 22 situation, Susan thinks the SNP Government is simply buying time: ”People are waiting for them, organisations are looking up to them and they want a lead - a government is there to lead.
“I wonder sometimes what our Scottish Government is for.
“We’ve asked them repeatedly: ‘what about education?’; ‘what about prisons?’ and they’ve said ‘that’s not a matter for us’.
“If schools, hospitals, prisons, police are nothing to do with our Scottish Government, I do wonder what our Scottish Government is supposed to be doing - are they just a nice little talking shop?”
Susan drew comparisons between the Scottish Government response and that of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, which acted within weeks to prevent transgender women from using female toilets at Holyrood and creating gender neutral spaces to provide “confidence, privacy and dignity” to transgender staff and visitors.