Readers' Letters: New guidelines on single-sex spaces seem fair

In The Scotsman of 26 April, Scottish Greens MSP Patrick Harvie claims transphobia is worse than homophobia in the 1980s and that the general media is generating and weaponising hatred of trans people.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance, following the Supreme Court's ruling that a woman is an adult female, was issued the previous day, and recommends schools should not be permitted to allow “pupils who identify as trans girls to use the girls' toilets and pupils who identify as trans boys should not be permitted to use the boys' toilet or changing facilities”.

Also, in associations – groups or clubs with more than 25 members, “a women-only or lesbian-only association should not admit trans women and men-only or gay-men only associations should not admit trans men”.

Scottish Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater (Picture: Jane Barlow)

It continues, “where facilities are available to both men and women, trans people should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use. Where possible, mixed-sex toilets, washing or changing facilities should be provided in addition to sufficient single-sex facilities”.

Alternatively, the guidance says it is possible to have toilet, washing or changing facilities which can be used by all, provided they are “in lockable rooms (not cubicles) and intended to be used by one person at a time. One such example might be a single toilet in a small business such as a cafe”.

A two-week consultation to seek views from “affected stakeholders” is expected to be launched in May.

This guidance seems very sensible and not “weaponising” hatred of trans people but it remains to be seen whether Mr Harvie, his co-leader Lorna Slater and Maggie Chapman MSP read something sinister into it. Something which might justify a person taking part in a trans protest, like the one which took place last Saturday, to carry a banner with “Decapitate terfs” on it.

Lovina Roe, Perth

Lose/lose prospect

Has the Maggie Chapman affair finally brought the SNP/Green “alliance” to its end? Ms Chapman's tenure as deputy convenor of the equalities committee is in serious doubt but it is the SNP MSPs on the committee who will have the final say. If Ms Chapman is “saved” then another row will break out.

If she isn't, then Holyrood itself will be given the task where, again, the SNP will decide her fate by virtue of numbers. First Minister John Swinney is on a lose/lose trajectory here – the SNP have relied on Green support for years. Will this still be forthcoming and will the electorate back this up?

While Swinney has been castigating the right, the left is threatening to derail the SNP altogether.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Staff picture

Brian Petrie falls into the usual trap of thinking “staff” in a university are entirely academics – that is, teachers and researchers (Letters, 26 April). I am told that at the University of Edinburgh there are now two “support staff” for every academic member of staff. These perform a huge variety of functions, from buildings maintenance to secretarial/administrative duties.

Talk of “several hundred lecturers earning over £100,000” is hyperbole that requires evidence from Mr Petrie. Most of the high salaries in universities go to principals and others in lofty administrative positions. There is now an entire layer of functionaries involved in “human resources” jobs, and now there is the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) empire.

Government requirements necessitate a “quality assurance” team, while the need to generate external research grants involves an office to advise academics on the best way to win a prize. The need to recruit high fee-paying foreign students requires teams of staff to do the recruiting. And so on.

I don’t know what makes Mr Petrie think “nurses and doctors” don’t live in a similar culture, and that academics are feather-bedded by comparison. I suggest he look at the salary levels for medical staff, including GPs, in the NHS. Further, the Sandie Peggie case at NHS Fife has revealed the nature of some of the non-medical jobs embedded there. One involves advising staff on the correct use of pronouns.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Another pie

An interesting letter from Stan Grodynski on the claim from Nigel Farage and co that Brexit would solve all the United Kingdom’s ills, which he calls “pie in the sky” (26 April).

There is an element of truth in this, but it is not the only example of pie in the sky on the go – the SNP claim that independence will solve all our ills also falls into this category!

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

Worrying times

I read Andrew Sweeney’s article from a man living in Kiev with respect and apprehension (Perspective, 26 April). How can we not learn from history? Neville Chamberlain’s abandonment of Czechoslovakia led to Adolf Hitler’s belief he could get away with Poland. We have chickened out of meaningful opposition to Russia. Barack Obama did so regarding Crimea, and we, Andrew suggests, have supplied Ukraine with enough support just to prevent it from winning, with for example the refusal to allow Volodymyr Zelensky to fire into Russia proper, from where the destruction is coming.

Surely Russia will now probe to see what further incursion it can make without full response, and where this will lead. Will there be a point at which we decide full response is applied? If so, what will this mean? The US is far away from present warfare. How will it respond? Trump will eventually die, but who will succeed? Family members? Or acolytes? Again, as Andrew says, if it is left to the bitter end, would even Scotland be safe, with its nuclear port and air bases?

Hamish McKenzie, Edinburgh

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.