Nicola Sturgeon has slammed Douglas Ross over his party's criticism of gender recognition reform (GRR) and claimed the Scots Tory leader would vote against the controversial legislation regardless.
The First Minister raised previous comments from Ross when he said he would have voted against equal marriage if he had been an MSP at the time.
She told MSPs: "I suspect Douglas Ross would have voted against this bill, regardless of what amendments had been proposed to it. That is his right."
The pair clashed during a heated First Minister's Questions where Ross urged Sturgeon to delay the vote on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill to allow MSPs to debate it more.
Ross asked the FM: "The majority of the public oppose the Bill, including most SNP, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters. The Bill reduces women's rights and potentially risks women's safety.
"It doesn't need to be this way. So let me ask the First Minister, and all the labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP members who support it. Shouldn't they take the time to get this right, instead of charging ahead with a bill that the people of Scotland do not support?"
The Bill will remove the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria currently required to receive a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
It would also lower the minimum age for applicants to 16 and drop the time required for an applicant to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months - six for people aged 16 and 17 - though with a three-month reflection period.
A vote on the Bill will take place later this afternoon following the final debate.
Sturgeon hit back at Ross saying she will "always stand up for women's right".
She said: "Douglas Ross says he's not opposed to reform, he's just opposed to this Bill. I've listened very carefully and not just in the last two days, but throughout this debate. I have not heard, I don't think it, from Douglas Ross at any time any explanation or any sense of what form of Bill he would have been prepared to support.
"I suspect Douglas Ross would have voted against this bill, regardless of what amendments had been proposed to it. That is his right.
"I've heard Douglas Ross say that in the past had he been in this Parliament when we had considered equal marriage, he would have voted against that, but has since changed his mind.
"I have thought very, very, very deeply about all of these issues for a long time, and I will be accountable for the decisions I make on this bill in this Parliament.
"I will always stand up for women's rights., but I am proud of the fact that I hope this afternoon parliament will vote for a piece of legislation that will make the lives of trans people in this country that little bit better and easier."
The Record exclusively revealed last year that Ross would have voted against same sex marriage in 2014 if he had been an MSP.
He told the Northern Scot newspaper in 2014 when he was a councillor: "If we are to recognise the momentous achievement, we should also recognise the hundreds of thousands of people who oppose this legislation.”
The report continued: “The Conservative councillor said he would personally have voted against the bill.”
It contained a further quote from Ross: "We need to recognise both sides of the argument, and both put their arguments across very well.”
A bill allowing same-sex marriage in Scotland was passed by MSPs in February 2014. At the time, Ross was at the start of his political career as a councillor in Moray. Ross is not supportive of equal marriage.
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