Stop digging, Nicola! Sturgeon refers to trans rapist Isla Bryson as ‘her’ before correcting to ‘the individual’ and insisting the important thing is ‘they are in prison’
- Nicola Sturgeon endured another grilling on gender issues at press conference
- The SNP leader was challenged after she referred to rapist Isla Bryson as ‘her’
Nicola Sturgeon referred to trans rapist Isla Bryson as ‘her’ today as she endured more awkward questions on gender.
The SNP leader risked causing fresh confusion as she was challenged at a press conference over whether she regarded Bryson as a woman.
Ms Sturgeon seemed to be carefully avoiding specifying the gender of the sex offender, who was moved to a male prison after an outcry. But the First Minister was picked up by journalists after slipping.
Told she had used the term ‘her’, a clearly exasperated Ms Sturgeon said: ‘Don’t read anything into… I am trying to rationally…
‘What I am trying to do is address the issues rather than take it into the headline-generating… I’m trying to rationally deal with the issues that arise here.’
Nicola Sturgeon risked causing fresh gender confusion today as she was challenged at a press conference over whether she regarded Bryson as a woman
Ms Sturgeon repeatedly referred to trans rapist Isla Bryson as ‘her’ today as she endured more awkward questions on gender
Pushed on why she said ‘her’, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘I can’t remember… I’ll take your word for it…
‘Isla Bryson calls herself a woman but what I’m trying to say is in the context of the prison service that is not the relevant factor here.
‘The relevant factor is the crime that the individual has committed and has been convicted of.’
When the journalists persisted that people had been asking ‘for days’ whether she regarded Bryson as a woman, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘She regards herself as a woman, I regard the individual as a rapist… and in the context of the prison service what matters is that the individual was convicted of rape and that is what we are talking about here.’
Ms Sturgeon was also asked during the press conference whether she thought Bryson was ‘at it’ in changing gender.
Ms Sturgeon said: ‘In this case, the individual is a rapist, that’s the important description for this individual.
‘They have been convicted of rape and they’re in prison and in a male prison.
‘So you deal with the individual – you don’t further stigmatise the entire group.’
The First Minister said her position on challenging the UK government’s use of Section 35 to block her looser gender laws had not changed, insisting it is important to have ‘clarity’.
Ms Sturgeon tried to calm the SNP civil war, suggesting critics of the gender recognition legislation will not have to leave the party.
At the weekend, education spokeswoman Shirley-Anne Somerville said rebels should ‘question’ if they want to stay in the party at the next election.
A protest in Glasgow at the weekend supporting the UK government blocking Ms Sturgeon’s gender legislation
Asked if people should be standing down from the SNP if they disagreed with the Scottish Government’s stance, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘No I don’t.’
She said that for every party in the democratic world, there is a general expectation that politicians will stand on its platform.
She continued: ‘Equally – in probably every party that is a democracy in every democracy in the world – there are individuals who can’t accept the position on particular issues and vote accordingly.
‘That is internal party democracy. It may be rare in the SNP, it is rare in the SNP but nevertheless I think we should see it in that way.’
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