Former First Minister insisted she was not ‘obsessed’ by gender reforms after public bodies adopted gender self-identification under her — despite this being ruled illegal
Nicola Sturgeon’s gender ideology, which should have been squashed by the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman, has lived on amid two new revelations about transgender policies. A taxpayer-funded charity runs a support group that trains biological men to breastfeed babies.
And more than 100 schools throughout Scotland still have some form of mixed-sex toilet provision for pupils, nearly a year after the Scottish Government told schools they must provide separate facilities for boys and girls. Campaigners have criticised the funding for these initiatives.
LGBT Health and Wellbeing, which is almost fully taxpayer-funded, runs a weekly session at its Edinburgh headquarters for LGBTQ+ parents “giving human milk to their babies”. The charity says that its “Queer Milk” group welcomes those “breastfeeding, chestfeeding or giving human milk to their baby in any amount… no matter what your feeding journey looks like”.
Biological men who identify as female can breastfeed after taking hormone treatments to induce lactation, which has been criticised by feminist campaigners. For Women Scotland told the Times that taxpayers would be “sickened” that their money was being used to fund the promotion of a “creepy and highly disturbing practice”.
Director Susan Smith said the fact that the group was “actively and openly encouraging the sinister idea that men can breastfeed, using public money, will rightly sicken taxpayers”. She added: “It is high time the SNP government, NHS and Scottish councils stopped lavishing these activist groups with millions of pounds to promote such perverse ideas. Defenceless and innocent babies are not props to be used to affirm delusional men, and the fact that public money is being used to promote the notion that they are is nauseating.”
A freedom of information investigation by the same group, published in the Herald, found that more than 100 schools across 14 Scottish local authorities still have some form of mixed-sex toilet provision for pupils. There are at least a dozen councils that have schools where boys and girls are expected to share.
These range from open-plan toilet blocks accessed through a communal entrance to gender-neutral facilities installed alongside single-sex provision. This is despite the court case which found that West Lothian Council had acted unlawfully by failing to provide single-sex toilets at a newly built primary schools.
The Supreme Court ruled that references to “sex”, “man”, and “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 mean biological sex at birth, meaning single-sex changing rooms and toilets have to be restricted to those born that sex.
For Women Scotland wrote to each authority flagging the ruling by Lady Poole, asking them to share the number of schools providing mixed-sex sanitary accommodation Based on the responses, there are 126 schools across 14 Scottish local authorities that still provide some form of mixed-sex sanitary accommodation.
Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Angus, Dundee, East Renfrewshire, Clackmannanshire, Midlothian, North Ayrshire, Shetland, Inverclyde and Perth and Kinross all have mixed-sex provision. Neither West Dunbartonshire Council not Argyll and Bute Council
Mixed sex toilets
Edinburgh said that all its schools provide gender-neutral sanitary accommodation “in addition to” single-sex facilities. South Ayrshire Council said that, aside from individual enclosed staff, visitor and accessible cubicles, and infant facilities in early years centres, it had “no open, mixed gender occupancy toilets or changing facilities” and no plans to introduce any in new schools under construction.
Highland Council said it did not centrally record how toilets were allocated in its schools, as this was a matter for individual head teachers and could change from session to session depending on pupil or staff needs. The council confirmed it was “carrying out a review of the information recorded on this matter” following the Supreme Court ruling on single-sex spaces.
Trina Budge of For Women Scotland (FWS) warned that councils were running the risk of “yet more costly court cases”. Ms Budge said: “For nearly 60 years now the law has been quite clear that separate toilets for boys and girls are required, so it’s not surprising that the courts are repeatedly upholding this for obvious reasons of privacy, dignity and safety.
“The ‘inclusive’ policies promoted by lobby groups that led to councils installing mixed sex toilets and changing rooms over recent years have resulted in discrimination and harm to girls, and steps should have been taken at least a year ago to resolve the situation nationwide. It’s astonishing they have not, and many parents will find this apathy hard to understand. Perhaps councils would be best advised to restore the correct facilities over the summer holidays before risking yet more costly court cases.”
Ms Sturgeon told BBC Scotland News: “This idea that I became obsessed [with gender recognition reform] to the exclusion of everything else is just a nonsense thing that some of my opponents say.”