With over 20 years as a lawyer and 7 ½ years as Justice Secretary I’ve come across some legal absurdities. However, there’s been few as great as the ridiculous situation brought about by the Scottish Governments policy on gender self-identification. For now, in Scotland if a man perpetrates a rape but self-identifies as a woman, then the crime will be recorded as perpetrated by a female, even though its physically and legally impossible.
I know transgender people and life has often been hard for them. Protecting them and ensuring they don’t suffer prejudice is right. But allowing people to self-identify as whatever gender they wish is profoundly dangerous. Statistics upon which policy’s made become a mockery.
In England as I discovered when chairing a seminar on protecting women prisoners, 40% of transgender prisoners are now sex-offenders. But there are few transgender prisoners, they’re far more often victims not perpetrators of crime. Instead, it’s men self-identifying as women to secure access to the female prison estate. That’s dangerous and damaging to women inmates who often have been the victims of male violence, often sexual.
How does that affect East Lothian you might ask, other than for a few? Well, it’s because that’s the tip of the iceberg on self ID. We’ve seen issues in schools over unisex toilets and that’ll only increase. Frankly, I don’t think its right that a young girl of 13 should be expected to use the same toilet as a grown laddie.
Now guidance given to schools now suggests that children of any age can transition and parents needn’t be told. Now the few kids who are seeking to change their gender are often deeply troubled and no doubt parents have been seeking to support them. That those parents shouldn’t be told is simply unacceptable.
But what about other children expected to share changing rooms or overnight accommodation with children of the opposite sex. Shouldn’t their parents have a right to know the gender of children their kids are staying with.
I’m opposing what’s happening in prisons and Alba councillors will oppose this absurdity in our schools.