An SNP MP has claimed she was warned that speaking out on trans issues could "ruin any chance" she had of becoming party leader.
Joanna Cherry has threatened legal action against The Stand comedy club after the Edinburgh venue cancelled her scheduled Fringe talkshow over her views on trans rights.
She said that she is doing so to make a "clear statement" that discriminating against people who hold "gender critical beliefs" is unlawful.
Management at the Edinburgh venue cancelled the “In Conversation” show earlier this month after staff said they did not want to work at an event featuring Cherry.
Cherry is a leading critic of the Scottish Government's gender recognition legislation, which allows trans people to change their gender without medical oversight.
She was speaking at an online event hosted by the think tank Reform Scotland. Former Tory MSP Adam Tomkins and former SNP leadership hopeful Kate Forbes were also part of the debate.
Cherry said she had been warned back in 2019 by her political adviser that speaking out about trans issues and women’s rights “would probably damage my political career and ruin any chance I would ever have of putting myself forward for the SNP leadership”.
The MP said she did not believe her adviser at the time but added: “I think he was right, actually.”
Cherry also accused others of "collective cowardice" on the issue. She said she and other gender critical feminists had suffered an “absolutely appalling” backlash for their views “over the last few years”.
Cherry said that it was "important" for her to speak out.
She said: "I was invited by The Stand to appear. They offered their venue and services at their venue for the interview with me. And then they withdrew it because of my gender critical beliefs. And I've got pretty robust legal advice about that.
"Unless the The Stand acknowledge their unlawful discrimination, apologise to me and reinstate the event, then I will take them to court because I think it'd be important that we have a clear statement in Scotland, in a case that has some publicity, that discriminating against women, and indeed men like me who hold these these beliefs, is unlawful.
"If people in public life in positions of leadership, like university principals, employers in the public sphere, political leaders, were prepared to take a stand on this, and perhaps I wouldn't find myself in this position but the political class seem to be seized by a collective cowardice on this issue with with a few honourable exceptions."
She also said she was prepared to take legal action “partly for myself”, adding that she had to challenge comments that were “very damaging to my reputation”.
Cherry, who is also a lawyer, continued: “I might not always be an MP, if I was to lose my seat next year there are various career opportunities that might be closed down to me if I don’t challenge this discrimination and this attack on my reputation.”
But she also said she was taking action “for other women because I have come across many women in the course of work who find themselves not being no platformed, but losing their jobs, or their means to earn a livelihood”.
She added: “Lots of these women are out of the public eye and aren’t necessarily in the position I am in to take this forward.”
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