Nicola Sturgeon: Transphobia is a 'big problem' in Scotland and people who disagree 'are not paying attention'

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that people who do not acknowledge that transphobia exists in Scotland are ‘probably not paying attention’.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland on Thursday, Ms Sturgeon said that trans people are “some of the most prejudiced against, discriminated against and stigmatised groups” in the country.

She said: “Anybody who doesn't think transphobia is a big problem in our society, I think is probably not paying attention”.

The SNP has plans to reform the gender recognition law proposing a change to allow transgender people to self-declare their gender identity rather than needing a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Nicola Sturgeon has said that anyone who doesn't think transphobia is a 'big problem' in Scotland is 'not paying attention'.

The policy reform has been met with a number of concerns from various sectors of society, including Scotland's eight Catholic bishops who said last year that gender is "an unchanging principle of human existence" and not something that can be altered.

Ms Sturgeon continued this morning: “Yes, there are many people in the SNP, in all parties and in Scotland as a whole, that oppose reforms to the gender recognition legislation.

“There are many women, and I understand this, who see that as some kind of threat to women's rights and what I would say is that I absolutely, as a life-long feminist, would never support anything that I thought was a danger or a risk to women's rights.”

Ms Sturgeon went on to say while she doesn’t believe that everyone who opposes the reform is transphobic, there will be some who are.

She said: “But what I don't say and I've never said, is that anybody who is raising concerns is by definition transphobic, because I don't believe that is the case.”

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