Readers' letters: SNP losing plot on gender recognition

As a passionate supporter of independence, I'm feeling more and more despondent at the type of Scotland the SNP are trying to create.

Lia Thomas

From so many really laudable policy decisions like the baby box, the Scottish child payment, they are throwing all that good will away over their intended reform of the Gender Recognition Act and pushing for self ID.

They claim widespread support for this but the majority say they don't know much about it. Most people haven't investigated beyond, "it won't affect me, why would I oppose it?", "everyone should be entitled to live their lives in respectful peace".

Only now as people are seeing Lia Thomas towering over the girls in the swimming pool are some thinking, oh, hang on, maybe this isn't so straightforward. As they realise they are being told transwomen are actual women and to ignore their eyes and science.

No one can see the men currently in women's prisons but it's more visible in sport and people are less comfortable repeating the mantra now. The SNP/Green's proposal regarding self ID is extending the umbrella to cover not only the very small percentage of people actually with gender dysphoria but it now includes anyone who wants to access women's spaces and this is being abused.

As governments and institutions across the country are rowing back from blind acceptance of the social contagion and distancing themselves from the discredited lobby group Stonewall, CEC has doubled down. All new toilets will be gender neutral – what happens to women of religion?

I haven't had a candidate at my door in years so I can't ask them "What is a woman?" but until an SNP candidate can answer ‘Adult Human Female’ I'll be withholding my vote or doing the unthinkable and voting for those who can.

H Mark, Edinburgh.

How SNP came to Tartan air travel

The SNP government recently announced a world climate emergency and that they were going to solve the problems by, for example, banning certain cars from the city centre.

Air travel was no longer to be allowed for civil servants, but this obviously doesn’t apply to SNP MSPs. Despite having an office and staff paid for by the Scottish taxpayers, it was deemed the only way “tartan celebrations” could go ahead in Canada was to fly out an SNP member and no doubt his entourage.

We are told that SNP-run Edinburgh Council are not anti-car, but at the same time senior SNP members remain in favour of air travel. Which is more polluting?

Alastair Murray, Edinburgh.

Why Easter remains a moveable festival

We know that Easter derives its name from spring goddess Eostre and involves many different images of rebirth, including an egg-laying bunny!

Christian religious believers engage with the spirit of the season by celebrating the Jesus resurrection story.

In October Greg Knight MP pressed the UK government to implement the Easter Act 1928 and fix the date of the Easter public holidays. Despite that this would allow better planning for children, families and businesses, the government did not think it would be "suitable" to fix the dates "without input and agreement from the Church (of England) or other Christian Bodies".

The religious minority interpretation of the festival is quite legitimate but the ancient dispute about its liturgical date should not be privileged at the expense of working families.

Neil Barber, Secular Society.

Write to the Edinburgh Evening News

We welcome your thoughts. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription. Click on this link for more information.