TENSIONS were high outside Holyrood as what is scheduled to be the final debate on gender recognition reform in Scotland got underway for a second day.
Hundreds of activists who oppose the bill on grounds that it will be abused by predatory men and therefore endangers women and girls chanted “shame” and “Sturgeon out” at a rally organised by For Women Scotland.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who has been a prominent critic of the bill, spoke alongside Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Gosal, Alba MP Neale Hanvey, and former leader of Scottish Labour Johann Lamont.
“I know for a fact that there are people in both the Westminster and the Holyrood groups who have serious reservations about this legislation, but who have felt unable to speak out,” she said.
“I think some people are scared to speak out in this debate because when you do speak out, you’re often wrongly branded as a transphobe or a bigot.
“I’ve also received rape and death threats and, as is a matter of public record, I’ve had no public support from my political party despite those rape and death threats, so I think many parliamentarians are just trying to keep out of this debate because they’re afraid to speak up.”
MSPs returned to the chamber at quarter past one in the afternoon and immediately voted to extend the length of the debate by two hours to allow all the remaining amendments to be heard.
Earlier in the day debate was suspended for more than hour after Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton moved a manuscript amendment from the floor of Parliament, which was later denied by the Presiding Officer.
During the break the mood among pro-reform activists was one of frustration.
They told The National that they were “pessimistic” about the chances of the bill being voted on by MSPs before midnight and criticised the Conservatives for “filibustering”.
However, they added that they remained "hopeful" that the bill would pass when MSPs eventually cast their final votes.
Meanwhile, a small group of people had also gathered outside the Scottish Parliament to protest against the bill, as well as the giving of Covid-19 vaccines to children and the Scottish Government’s sex education policies.
Simultaneously, 19-year-old University of Edinburgh student Charlotte held a solitary counter-protest in support of the bill.
She waved a transgender flag in the wind and elicited the occasional supportive beep from passing traffic.
She told The National that if the bill passed that she would apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate.
“Because I’m not actually a UK citizen – I’m German but have been living here since I was little – I can’t get a GRC,” she said.
“But with this reform I will be able to because people who are ordinarily resident in Scotland will be eligible.
“It’s going to be easier to get things like ID documents in the right gender. Where elsewhere I would have to then say that I am “legally male” I won’t have to do that anymore, which will be a lot better for me.”
She said while she felt small numbers of people had been vocal in their opposition of the bill and their opinions were “unnecessarily amplified” by mainstream news organisations, her experience of coming out as transgender in Scotland had been good.
“The protesters that are here, I mean, okay, there’s quite a few of them but comparative to the general population it’s not really that many.
“When I go to pubs in the city, when I go anywhere, I’ve never faced any problems. No one really cares. Scotland is actually quite accepting in terms of the general population.”
Just after 5pm MSPs voted once again to extend the debate by a further two hours, signalling another late night for Scotland’s parliamentarians.
The public galleries grew noticeably fuller throughout the day, with members of the public from both sides of the debate turning up to hear MSPs pour over the amendments late into the night.
