SNP politician who led attack on Gender Recognition Act reform ‘barred’ from standing for election
Caroline McAllister in a T-shirt sold by an anti-trans campaigner. (Twitter)
Caroline McAllister, an SNP politician who vocally opposes reforming the Gender Recognition Act, has reportedly been barred from standing as an MSP.
McAllister, who is deputy leader of the SNP group on West Dunbartonshire council, has been one of the key SNP figures leading a backlash against Scotland’s proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) – the 2004 law that governs the process of legal gender recognition for adult trans men and women.
She wanted to stand in the Scottish elections next year against Jackie Baillie, the Labour MSP, in Dumbarton, but has failed the SNP’s internal vetting, according to The Times.
McAllister is co-convener of the SNP Women’s Pledge, which launched in 2019 with a petition saying: “Women have the right to refuse consent to males in single-sex spaces or males delivering intimate services to females such as washing, dressing or counselling.”
An SNP source told The Times, of Caroline McAllister being blocked from standing as an MSP: “It looks to me like she was a scalp because she’s the convener of the Women’s Pledge.”
But the paper reports that other party figures have disputed these claims, and suggested that content shared on McAllister’s social media platforms had been the problem.
McAllister has posted pictures online of herself wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “Woman = adult human female”, which is a popular slogan among anti-trans campaigners.
The T-shirt is sold by Posie Parker, the founder of an anti-trans group who has previously appeared alongside white nationalist YouTubers.
McAllister said on Twitter (October 18) that she would be seeking the nomination for Women’s Convenor in the upcoming elections.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has previously said she does not see “the greater recognition of transgender rights as a threat to me as a woman or to my feminism”.
The SNP has been contacted for comment.
