London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

‘Shame on you Sturgeon’: Women take their fight with Scottish leader online over SNP’s gender self-identification plans

‘Shame on you Sturgeon’: Women take their fight with Scottish leader online over SNP’s gender self-identification plans

Women in Scotland have taken their battle with the SNP and leader Nicola Sturgeon online after the nationalist party said that plans to reform gender laws in favour of self-identification were back on the table.

The Scottish government is once again coming under fire for its controversial positioning on gender identity. On Thursday, hundreds took to Twitter to voice their opposition to recent developments, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's announcement on Tuesday that reforms to gender identity law were back on the agenda, having been suspended during the pandemic.

She said the Gender Recognition Reform bill "will make the existing process of gender recognition less degrading, intrusive and traumatic. In other words, it will make life easier for one of the most stigmatised minorities in our society."

The SNP leader also caused a stir as she heckled Murdo Fraser, the deputy leader of the Scottish conservatives, after he spoke about women protesters' opposition to the bill in the same sitting. "Shame on you!", she shouted across the Holyrood chamber.

Sturgeon's position on transgender rights and self-identification have not been well-received by many women in Scotland, with Tuesday's announcement that the government will be bringing forward gender-recognition reforms in the coming months further inflaming the situation.

"How can women's rights be protected if anyone can be a woman?" one person asked on Twitter, sharing an image illustrating diminishing women's rights and highlighting the safe spaces that men could have access to if self-identification is legalised.


Others concurred, using the trending hashtag #ShameOnYouSturgeon; one asserted that "Female no longer means female only when any man can declare his inner feelings make him female." She added that men in women's prisons aren't men, "they're predatory men" and that men in women's sports aren't female athletes, "they're cheats."

Another shared an image, referencing the Telegraph, which claimed that one in 50 male prisoners identify as transgender versus one in 4,500 in the wider population. "So either self-ID is a disaster or transwomen are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime," the text reads.


One person, addressing their tweet to the first minister, asked why "forcing women to share their safe spaces with males is your number one priority" when the country is struggling with Covid and Brexit, as well as a disgraceful record on drugs deaths and a dire education system.

Others wondered how she had managed to lose the high ground on women's rights to a male Tory MSP.

While there was little support for the Scottish leader on the matter, one pro-independence group said that people were forgetting that Sturgeon is a woman herself. "Not everyone agrees with your bigoted views. Trans Rights are Human Rights," they added.

Scotland has been at the centre of debates around transgender self-identification and trans-rights in recent months. Debate was reignited in August when Scottish feminist campaigner Marion Millar went on trial at a Glasgow court, charged with hate crimes after several historic tweets were deemed transphobic and homophobic. Millar claims she is standing up for hard-won women's rights amid increasing assertiveness of transgender groups. Hundreds gathered outside the court to support her fight and demand the case be dropped.

Earlier in August, Holyrood decided that children as young as four could change their gender and name at school without the consent of their parents. The move was reinforced weeks later when the Scottish bureau responsible for the country's 2022 census announced that people could self-identify when they list their sex on the upcoming survey.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×