Politicians vying to become Scotland’s next leader have described prominent transgenderism critic J.K. Rowling as being a “national treasure”.
One of Britain’s most prominent critics of transgenderism, J.K. Rowling, has been described as a “national treasure” by politicians vying to become Scotland’s next political leader.
The comments may be an attempt by the would-be leaders to gloss over, or get past, the transgender ideology crisis that brought down the previous leadership. Nicola Sturgeon took a hardline left-wing stance on transgender issues, including on those relating to children.
The view generated considerable controversy in Scotland, particularly over the issue of so-called transgender rapists. Harry Potter author Rowling was often leading the charge against Sturgeon, who she called a “destroyer of women’s rights” for her pushing of a new transgender law in Scotland’s parliament.
After many years of back-and-forth, it finally appears that Rowling has won the gender ideology grudge match, with all three candidates for SNP leader agreeing — albeit grudgingly for at least one — that the Harry Potter author was a “national treasure” during a Sky News debate on Monday.
What’s more, the two women vying for the position of top dog in the country, Ash Regan and Kate Forbes, both explicitly praised Rowling’s anti-transgenderism campaigning, saying that the author was standing up for women in the country by speaking out.
“I do think she’s brave,” Forbes said, before emphasising that she does not agree with Rowling when it comes to the issue of “transgender rights”.
Even the party’s arch-progressive candidate and Sturgeon ally, Humza Yousaf, was forced to pay tribute to the author, agreeing with the Sky News moderator that Rowling was indeed a national treasure despite the fact she holds views not deemed progressive enough by him.
“I think she has done amazing in terms of the books she’s written,” Yousaf said. “I disagree with her, vehemently, on the issue of transgender rights.”
The qualified praise for Rowling represents something of a political sea change in Scotland, with progressive elements within the Scottish National Party losing support to more right-leaning elements within the organisation.
Although Yousaf is seen as the heir to Sturgeon’s progressive throne in the country, Christian conservative Kate Forbes has outstripped him in the popularity polls, with recent polling showing that she is more popular with the general Scottish public than either of the two other contenders.
This may be due to the fact that support for Scottish independence under the Sturgeon administration is in freefall, with only 39 per cent of the general public saying they are in favour compared to 47 per cent, who are now against it.
Such a poor result is likely to cause ructions within the SNP, with the party’s primary goal being to get Scotland out of the United Kingdom.