Greens should stick to saving the planet – the clue’s in the name

The Greens are suggesting that the council should review its contracts with groups such as Edinburgh Women’s Aid, says Susan Dalgety

Naively, I thought the Green Party was set up to campaign for a better environment, to reduce our dependence on harmful emissions, and to prioritise sustainability over economic growth. But in recent years, the Scottish Greens seem more concerned about sex than pollution, in particular people who are confused about whether they are male or female.

So passionate are the Scottish Greens about transgender folk, they are prepared to sacrifice women’s legal rights to meet their demands. Take Councillor Alex Staniforth, the Scottish Green councillor for Craigentinny/Duddingston. He has tabled a motion for Thursday’s full council meeting that is an undisguised threat to Edinburgh Women’s Aid (EWA), which recently revealed its decision to provide services to women only.

Councillor Staniforth, a long-haired bearded bloke who is an actor specialising in horror shows when he is not on council duty, demands that the council leader, Councillor Jane Meagher, write to Edinburgh Women’s Aid to “encourage” the charity to reverse its decision and provide “comprehensive services to trans women”. And he suggests that the council should review its contracts with groups such as EWA to ensure that their services “are fully trans inclusive”. As the charity gets the majority of its funding from the city council, it doesn’t take a genius to work out what is behind Councillor Staniforth’s motion. He wants the city council to stop funding vital services for women survivors of domestic abuse unless men who “identify” as women are also welcome in EWA’s refuges.

Councillor Staniforth, may I gently remind you that Edinburgh Women’s Aid was set up by women more than 50 years ago? The clue is in the name. It is a service for women, provided by women, to protect and support women. It is not for men. Nor for people who believe they are a different sex to the one they were born. It is for women. And the 2010 Equality Act states that organisations can discriminate on the basis of sex where it is “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. I can’t think of a more legitimate aim than the provision of safe, single-sex spaces for women fleeing violence.

Councillor Staniforth’s demands also go against the Istanbul Convention which requires single-sex provision for survivors of violence against women, and which was ratified by the UK Government only three years ago.

By all means argue for funding for separate services for transgender people facing domestic abuse, Councillor Staniforth. And while you are about it, why not encourage the city’s tiny transgender community to do what women had to do back in the 1970s – set up a bespoke service staffed by volunteers and funded by donations? I am sure there will be plenty of women willing to offer advice on how to go about setting up such a charity.

But please, Councillor Staniforth, leave women’s services alone. Women fought long and hard to secure support for rape crisis centres and domestic abuse refuges. They are single-sex for a very good reason, as a safe haven from male violence and abuse. Stick to saving the planet, Councillor Staniforth. The clue is in your party’s name.