BBCPrime Minister John Swinney has said that the Supreme Court ruling on the legal meaning of a woman will leave members of the Trans community feeling “uncertain and anxious.”
Swinney refused to respond directly if she believed that a trans woman is a woman, but said she accepted the court trials.
He was speaking as hero protests activists in Scotland after the highest court in the United Kingdom ruled that biological sex defined a woman for the purposes of the Equality Law.
Swinney said his government would expel the steps they will take to comply with the law on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling has important implications for single -sex spaces and services.
The group had been presented by the group of Scotland women who affirmed that sex -based protections should only be applied to people born female.
The Scottish government argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to the same protections based on the same sex as biological women.
The judges unanimously ruled that the terms women and sex in the 2010 Equality Law “refer to a biological woman and biological sex” instead of “certified sex.”
Hundreds of people gathered in Glasgow’s Plaza and at the foot of the Mound in Edinburgh on Saturday to protest against the decision.
John Swinney, who campaigned for Hamilton’s partial elections, told BBC Scotland News that his government “would accept and adapt to circumstances.”
He said: “The first thing that is important is that we all have to accept the rule of law so that I accept the decision of the Supreme Court that is the voice of the most important court in the country.
“We will focus completely on ensuring that the rights of absolutely all are protected at a time when I recognize that they will be many in the trans community that feel very uncertain and anxious for the implications of the ruling of the Supreme Court.”
Swinney said the courts in Scotland had supported the position of the Scottish government twice and that their government had always acted in “good faith”, but added that the Supreme Court had provided legal certainty.
‘Completely wrong’
Susan Smith, co -director of For Women Scotland, the group that brought the case to the Supreme Court, has asked the Scottish government to apologize to women.
She told BBC Scotland News: “I think we would be asking for an apology, not a personal apology by Mr. Swinney, but of the Scottish government because of the way they have approached this, the way they have handled this, the way in which Haveyigners has had.
“There must be an acceptance by the Scottish government that much of what they did, much of what allowed the ministers or members of the committees to do and say and act completely twisted.”
He added that the ruling would have “huge implications” throughout the public sector in Scotland, even in schools, prisons and hospitals.
She said that Scotland should be part of the discussions in the future.
