The policy that will not speak its name is Gender Recognition Reform. The political parties, the SNP, Scottish Greens, Lib Dems and Labour, who pushed it through the Scottish Parliament want to keep it that way.
Most Scots are horrified by GRR’s ramifications: the erosion of women’s single-sex spaces, the risks to child safeguarding, and self-ID without medical oversight. Where can voters turn when the very parties responsible evade discussion and treat public opposition as transphobic, an inconvenience to be ignored?
Public consultations exposed stark division, yet politicians pressed ahead regardless dismissing the “wrong” answers found in the 2017–2018 review1 and 2019–2020 draft bill consultation2 which drew tens of thousands of responses, with widespread public resistance to key elements—particularly impacts on women’s rights and youth protections. Twice the people spoke against it. Twice the parties justified overriding the national mood.
Gender dysphoria, a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity, exists for a small percentage of the population, UK estimates suggest 0.5%.
We must look after those people suffering gender dysphoria. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 gives people contemplating a major life change, involving surgery and a major drug taking programme, the time to think about major life changing surgery and/or drug taking. There are non-medicalised approaches to gender dysphoria, including various therapies. Children and adults may naturally outgrow any gender confusion.4
Politicians in Edinburgh decided on re-engineering society, against the wishes of voters, on the basis of manifesto promises that were vague at best, and certainly did not explain the wider implications. I checked all the manifestos.
The SNP5 had 5 paragraphs, including this promise: “We will ensure that these changes do not affect the rights or protections that women currently have including under the Equality Act.”
Scottish Greens6 – “Deliver long overdue reforms to the Gender Recognition Act, including statutory self-declaration, recognising non-binary identities and all genders, and providing access to health care for trans minors “with parental or guardian consent” – a safeguard later dropped, sidelining parents entirely.
Scottish Liberal Democrats7 – Enthusiastically endorsed self-determination without medical diagnosis, dismissing concerns over societal effects.
Scottish Labour8 – Vowed to de-medicalise the process and recognize non-binary identities—yet their manifesto muddled issues, they voted for a bill not clearly outlined in their manifesto.
In order of enthusiasm for GRR – there are the Scottish Greens, the Lib Dems, the SNP and the Labour party.
The bill has not gone away, but legally it is in limbo. Passed in the Scottish Parliament, but blocked by the UK government as it contradicts the provisions of the Equality Act. However, GRR is still on the statute book, supposedly not activated. The worry is that the Act is in the parliament building, MSPs should repeal the Act before it can be revived.
You should read The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht.9 This book is about how GRR came about and took over the soul, and thinking processes, of the Scottish Parliament. Chapter one is about the machinations of the Equality Network, Scottish Trans Alliance, Stonewall, LGBT Youth Scotland and others who wanted to embed gender identity in all aspects of public life.
All advocacy groups have the right to make their case, and they would argue that that is all that they did. Influencing politicians and civil servants is one thing, government funding activist lobbies that then demand legislation from their funders raises serious questions about democratic health. In what world does that seem like a healthy approach?
The Equality Network and Scottish Trans Alliance merged. Official records10 show that the Equality Network received £2,264,720.50 from 2021–2026, LGBT Youth Scotland £1,298,523.50 over the same period, and Stonewall Scotland £476,101.00.
The question is what politicians are for? If they are bankrolling organisations to do their thinking for them, should they not, at least, pay attention to what is being produced. In 2017 transgender guidance for schools was produced, but the work was such poor quality that the Scottish government had to commit to replace it.
The politicians were happy to pass legislation that not only set out to destroy the innocence of childhood but to give free rein to organisations that wanted to spread gender ideology. The actual care of the patient became secondary to the gender ideology drive.11
The spread of trans ideology across Scottish life is remarkable. As a for instance, all Scottish government funded organisations of female victims of violence must have a trans inclusion policy as a condition of their government grant.
There should be provision for teenagers who find life difficult. What should not happen is that the teenager is put on a conveyor belt that leads to indoctrination, life changing decisions on surgery and life altering drug taking to satisfy those pushing gender ideology.
Tavistock and Sandyford12 are clinics that deal with gender dysphoria. The former top doctor, Dr David Gerber, at Sandyford warned, in 2021, senior health board management that too little caution was being exercised. GRR had led to a ‘lack of objectivity in staff assessing gender patients’, that there was an ‘overly affirmative stance in line with the socio-political narrative’ and described a ‘fear of challenge among the staff group which relates to said narrative, as any questioning is deemed transphobic’.
Tavistock has since been closed for child gender referrals; it is available for adult referrals. Sandyford continues to treat children, but only after a referral from a clinician.
Hannah Barnes, writing in the New Statesman, said, “This is a story about the underlying safety of an NHS service, the adequacy of the care it provides and its use of poorly evidenced treatments on some of the most vulnerable young people in society. And how so many people sat back, watched and did nothing.”13
Remember that quote from the Sandyford report, ‘fear of challenge among the staff group which relates to said narrative, as any questioning is deemed transphobic’, the cult allows for no opposition.
Other people who spoke out lost their jobs and their careers.
As the defence lawyers for nurse Sandy Peggie at the NHS Fife industrial tribunal said, “Reason doesn’t work. You can’t support a delusional belief with reasoned argument, and that in my submission is the simple, economic, elegant explanation for why you’ve seen that the claimant was subjected to the vicious heresy hunt.”
The Cass report, April 2024, said “sex-swap” drugs were issued to under 18s on “remarkably weak evidence” in gender clinics. Routine prescriptions of puberty blockers have since been stopped. The Cass report held gender ideology up to scientific scrutiny, and it failed.
For Women Scotland took the Scottish government to court and the Supreme court came out in their favour. But the Scottish government is being so ponderous in applying the ruling that nothing is being changed, so For Women Scotland are going to court again to get the Supreme Court ruling implemented, rather than having the ruling ignored.
The Equality Act 2010 lists all protected characteristics including sex. Women and girls safe, private spaces were under threat from GRR. Women, surely, have the right to refuse consent to males in single-sex spaces or against males delivering intimate services to females.
Apart from going through the Scottish Parliament, gender ideology has been built into the Scottish education system, into Social Work, Leisure facilities, the Prison system, you name it, and gender ideology is there.
To avoid a male prison, a convicted man can claim to be a woman to avoid a male prison and get accommodation in a women’s prison. Some of these convicted males only realised they were female when they were convicted!
The Supreme Court, in April 2025, decided that in the Equality Act 2010 man means biological man, woman means biological woman.
Rather than protecting the innocence of children and troubled teenagers, politicians have given permission to ideologues to go after children and teenagers to transition them, and to down grade women rights.
Gender ideology must be removed from Scottish life and put in the dustbin of history.
Sovereignty
Will ensure that those suffering from Gender Dysphoria are dealt with in a professional and compassionate manner with the interests of the individual at the heart of any treatment decisions
Will lead a campaign to remove the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (GRR) 2022 from the record
Will back For Women Scotland in their endeavours to apply the law
Will ensure that the Supreme Court ruling on women’s separate spaces is followed by all Scottish based organisations
Will ensure that all gender ideology teaching, instruction or guidelines is removed from all Scottish based organisations
Will ensure that women’s and girls safe places are for women and girls only
Will ensure that women’s prisons are for women
Will ensure that government funding is withdrawn from third sector lobby groups advocating gender ideology
Will ensure that all government or council bodies understand that the parents are the decision makers in their family
Will ensure that parents, must be kept informed, at every stage, of their child’s development by school, medical and social work authorities
Will ensure that there is no place for indoctrination of primary or secondary schoolchildren into gender ideology
Pollokshields Burgh Hall, Glasgow, 1 November 2025
References
- [1]: https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-gender-recognition-act-2004-analysis-responses-public-consultation-exercise-report/pages/8/
- [2]: https://www.gov.scot/publications/gender-recognition-reform-scotland-bill-analysis-responses-public-consultation-exercise/
- [4]: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/treatment/
- [5]: https://www.snp.org/policies/pb-what-action-will-the-snp-to-improve-trans-and-intersex-equality/
- [6]: https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/04/28/review-of-party-manifesto-commitments-relating-to-womens-sex-based-rights/
- [7]: https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/04/28/review-of-party-manifesto-commitments-relating-to-womens-sex-based-rights/
- [8]: https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/04/28/review-of-party-manifesto-commitments-relating-to-womens-sex-based-rights/
- [9]: https://www.amazon.com/Women-Who-Wouldnt-Wheesht/dp/1408720701
- [10]: https://www.gov.scot/publications/equality-and-human-rights-fund-projects-funded/
- [11]: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/cass-review-nhs-gender-care-atkins-b2529099.html
- [12]: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/top-doctor-at-scotland-s-tavistock-raised-alarm-about-transgender-surgery/ar-AA1rpISt
- [13]: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2024/03/inside-the-collapse-of-the-tavistock-centre