John Swinney: Trans people will feel anxious over gender ruling

First Minister John Swinney has said the Supreme Court ruling over the legal meaning of a woman will leave members of the trans community feeling “uncertain and anxious”.

Swinney declined to directly answer whether he believed a trans woman is a woman, but said he accepted the court’s judgement.

He was speaking as activists held protests in Scotland after the highest court in the UK ruled that biological sex defined a woman for the purposes of the Equality Act.

Swinney said his government would set out on Tuesday the steps it will take to comply with the law.

The Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday has major implications for single-sex spaces and services.

The case had been brought by the group For Women Scotland who claimed that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female.

The Scottish government argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women.

The judges unanimously ruled that the terms woman and sex in the 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex” rather than “certificated sex”.

Hundreds of people gathered in Glasgow’s George Square and at the foot of the Mound in Edinburgh on Saturday to protest against the decision.

John Swinney, who campaigning for the Hamilton by-election, told BBC Scotland News his government would “accept and adjust to the circumstances”.

He said: “The first thing that is important is that we all have to accept the rule of law so I accept the Supreme Court decision because it is the voice of the most significant court in the land.

“We will focus entirely on making sure the rights of absolutely everybody are protected at a time when, I acknowledge that there will be many in the trans community that feel very uncertain and anxious about the implications of the Supreme Court ruling.”

Swinney said courts in Scotland had twice supported the Scottish government position and his government had always acted in “good faith” but added that the Supreme Court had provided legal certainty.

Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland, the group which brought the case to the Supreme Court, has called for the Scottish government to apologise to women.

She told BBC Scotland News: “I think we’d be asking for an apology, not a personal apology from Mr Swinney, but from the Scottish government for the way they’ve approached this, the way they have handled this, the way they have treated women campaigners.

“There needs to be an acceptance on the part of the Scottish government that much of what they did, much of what they allowed ministers or members of committees to do and say and act was completely wrong.”

She added that the ruling would have “huge implications” across the public sector in Scotland, including in schools, prisons and hospitals.

She said For Women Scotland should be a part of discussions moving forward.