Scottish Tory leader under fire for saying trans women aren’t women

Douglas Ross says he ‘misspoke’ but stands by claim people ‘cannot change their sex’

Douglas Ross (PA)

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has been condemned for claiming that trans women are not women and cannot use single-sex toilets.

The senior Tory MP and MSP was accused by LGBT+ campaign group the Equality Network of being “woefully misinformed and confused”.

Asked on the BBC programme The Nine if trans women are women, Mr Ross replied: “No. She is a female, sorry, she is a male who has changed her sex but has not changed her gender.”

Mr Ross was also grilled about his own pledge to ensure there are single-sex spaces available in all council-run facilities. Asked if trans women can use the women’s single-sex facilities, he said: “No, they can’t.”

The Equality Network pointed out that it is unlawful under the Equality Act “for public services to have a blanket policy of excluding trans people from services that match their lived sex”.

Mr Ross admitted on Wednesday morning that he “misspoke” on the interview – but stood by his remarks on biological sex and the importance of single-sex spaces.

He told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “I’m very clear that people can change their gender, they cannot change their sex. They’re biologically born male or female, but there are options to have gender-neutral changing rooms and toilets.”

The MP for Moray said that in his own Highland council area “there were proposals for schools to have all gender neutral toilets but parents and pupils raised concerns and they’ve now gone back to the drawing board”.

He added: “There will be male changing rooms, female changing rooms and there will be gender neutral changing rooms.”

Asked by the BBC if people should be able to complain if they suspect a trans person of using single-sex facilities, Mr Ross said: “Yes. And that is really serious and this is what it comes down to is, women feeling safe in their own spaces.”

The SNP MSP Karen Adam criticised Mr Ross on Twitter, accusing him of “trying to roll back the 2010 equality act via council elections while mixing up your transphobic lines that were fed to you”.

The Equality Network said the Tory local election pledge “shows no consideration at all for trans people, or for the experiences of those who have been successfully running trans-inclusive single-sex services for years”.

A spokesperson added: “Difficult not to conclude that this is simply attempting to gain votes from a ‘culture war’.”

Meanwhile, Mr Ross condemned the “disgusting” claims made by “cowardly” Tories which accused Labour’s Angela Rayner of trying to distract Boris Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs.

He also dismissed claims that voters in Scotland will use the local elections to voice anger over his response to the prime minister’s Partygate fines.