Thanks for these comments. As I said, I'm not really supporting anyone in the SNP leadership, but I have been dismayed by the way it has been conducted, and in particular the way Kate Forbes has been castigated for her religious beliefs. I don't agree with her. I'm a non believer. But I don't see how her views are essentially different from the attitudes of Islam to issues like gay marriage and abortion. I don't understand why people seem to think Muslims agree with the GRR Bill. They don't.
As for sex-change: people can of course undergo surgery, but castration does not a woman make. No one born a man will menstruate, bear children, breast feed or experience the menopause. I have no objection to people living in any way they wish and identifying with any gender, but in the end, biology can't be beat.
As someone born and brought up in the Western Isles I am familiar with the beliefs of Kate Forbes, though I do not subscribe to them myself. In fact we are poles apart. However I am much more comfortable with Kate's straightforward honesty than I am with Humza Yousaf's dissembling hypocrisy. I know which one I can trust and which one I would vote for. If I had a vote that is. I left the SNP because of growing concerns regarding the party's internal governance, its aggressive intolerance of alternative viewpoints, its bizarre obsession with gender reform legislation, its failure to carry out due diligence on the case for independence and its dismal record in the management of public services. All of which will probably continue to be the case under the 'continuity' candidate!
"The presumption of commentators seems to be that opposition to Self-ID is a sign of religious bigotry." I would argue that's their (very cynical) stance, which chimes in a very unmusical way with the kid gloves treatment Sturgeon's received during her distastrous tenure, or perhaps they really are so stupid and incompetent (not to mention anti-religion) that they've missed the opposition to the Gender Bill from right across the board.
Thanks to Iain for some balance. Something that's missing right now in the MSM. Yousaf is being given a very easy ride. We can only wonder why. People who challenge that approach sometimes pay a penalty.
Politics is dirty, Scottish journalism is filthier still.
"Yet there is no belief more eccentric and magical than the idea the humans can change sex."
Human beings can change sex, through a sex change operation which has been on the go for over 40 years. Where it comes a cropper is when people think they can change sex in their imagination and keep their male appendages yet still identify as female. I think people should get sex changes on the NHS and then have access to the same rights as their new gender. If they don't want the operation they shouldn't get the rights. 16 year olds having irreversible major surgery would be wrong so the operation should only be for adults over 21. That would eliminate the bad faith actors while respecting those who genuinely want to live as the opposite sex.
Thanks for these comments. As I said, I'm not really supporting anyone in the SNP leadership, but I have been dismayed by the way it has been conducted, and in particular the way Kate Forbes has been castigated for her religious beliefs. I don't agree with her. I'm a non believer. But I don't see how her views are essentially different from the attitudes of Islam to issues like gay marriage and abortion. I don't understand why people seem to think Muslims agree with the GRR Bill. They don't.
As for sex-change: people can of course undergo surgery, but castration does not a woman make. No one born a man will menstruate, bear children, breast feed or experience the menopause. I have no objection to people living in any way they wish and identifying with any gender, but in the end, biology can't be beat.
All best,
As someone born and brought up in the Western Isles I am familiar with the beliefs of Kate Forbes, though I do not subscribe to them myself. In fact we are poles apart. However I am much more comfortable with Kate's straightforward honesty than I am with Humza Yousaf's dissembling hypocrisy. I know which one I can trust and which one I would vote for. If I had a vote that is. I left the SNP because of growing concerns regarding the party's internal governance, its aggressive intolerance of alternative viewpoints, its bizarre obsession with gender reform legislation, its failure to carry out due diligence on the case for independence and its dismal record in the management of public services. All of which will probably continue to be the case under the 'continuity' candidate!
"The presumption of commentators seems to be that opposition to Self-ID is a sign of religious bigotry." I would argue that's their (very cynical) stance, which chimes in a very unmusical way with the kid gloves treatment Sturgeon's received during her distastrous tenure, or perhaps they really are so stupid and incompetent (not to mention anti-religion) that they've missed the opposition to the Gender Bill from right across the board.
Thanks to Iain for some balance. Something that's missing right now in the MSM. Yousaf is being given a very easy ride. We can only wonder why. People who challenge that approach sometimes pay a penalty.
Politics is dirty, Scottish journalism is filthier still.
"Yet there is no belief more eccentric and magical than the idea the humans can change sex."
Human beings can change sex, through a sex change operation which has been on the go for over 40 years. Where it comes a cropper is when people think they can change sex in their imagination and keep their male appendages yet still identify as female. I think people should get sex changes on the NHS and then have access to the same rights as their new gender. If they don't want the operation they shouldn't get the rights. 16 year olds having irreversible major surgery would be wrong so the operation should only be for adults over 21. That would eliminate the bad faith actors while respecting those who genuinely want to live as the opposite sex.