SNP leader John Swinney reaffirms support for trans women using women’s facilities
SNP First Minister, John Swinney. (Getty)
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader John Swinney has reaffirmed his support for trans women, by insisting they should be allowed to use women’s toilets.
Swinney said he supported the Scottish government’s guidance for transgender employees, which states they should be allowed “to use the facilities they feel most comfortable with”.
While this right must “not come at the disadvantage of other members of staff”, Swinney reiterated the fact that trans women are women, The Telegraph reported.
His comments were made as an employment tribunal in Scotland focused on the right of trans people to access female-only areas.
Nurse Sandie Peggie has claimed she was subjected to unlawful harassment by being made to share a changing room at Victoria Hospital, in Kirkcaldy, Fife, with transgender doctor Beth Upton, and felt intimidated and embarrassed.
NHS Fife has accused Peggie of misconduct, and the tribunal judge has adjourned the case until July.
Scottish NHS guidance states that trans men and women are allowed to use the changing rooms that align with their gender identity.
Swinney has been a staunch supporter of trans rights. Last June, at Edinburgh Pride, he told PinkNews that he wanted “nothing to do” with other politicians who are turning “minorities into enemies”.
A month earlier, he had said trans women are women.
“I believe a woman is an adult female born as a woman, and I also accept that transgender women are defined as women,” he told BBC Radio Scotland.
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