John Swinney must lay down the law to public bodies to safeguard women’s single-sex spaces, parliament will be told this week.
The Scottish Conservatives say public-sector employers require direction because the legal rights of biological females to access toilets and changing rooms, free from male-bodied colleagues, is being overridden by bosses who adhere to the SNP’s gender self-ID policy.
The ongoing tribunal involving NHS Fife and nurse Sandie Peggie has brought this issue back into the public eye.
Holyrood’s largest opposition party will lead a debate about the protection of single-sex spaces on Wednesday, during which they will criticise the SNP Government’s failure to provide clarity to the likes of health boards, quangos and charities.
Leader Russell Findlay says the nationalists have allowed Nicola Sturgeon’s “reckless” self-ID policy to become embedded in public institutions, putting women’s safety at risk.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said “The SNP’s gender bill was rightly blocked by the previous UK Conservative government, but its dangerous legacy lives on – and women’s rights are being trashed as a result.
“Nicola Sturgeon’s reckless policy seems to have been adopted across the NHS, education and justice systems and even by rape support charities.
“The SNP government must provide firm, clear instructions to public-sector employers that the rights of women transcend those of male-bodied individuals, including dangerous predators, who seek to access female toilets and changing areas.
“It defies belief that John Swinney says he still backs gender self-ID despite the grotesque farce of a rapist being housed in a women’s prison. No wonder public bodies are all over the place on this issue.
“The people of Scotland expect some common sense to be applied, and only our party can be trusted to do so.”