Champions of gender self-ID bankrolled by Scot Govt

The Scottish Government is giving significant funding to vocal supporters of its ‘sex swap’ Bill, it has emerged.

Responses to Freedom of Information requests revealed that five out of six signatories to a letter defending the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill accepted Government grants.

The heads of the five state-subsidised organisations – Engender, JustRight Scotland, Scottish Women’s Rights Centre, Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland – gave their unqualified support to the Bill.

Compromised

The group – which also includes Amnesty International Scotland – were responding to an intervention by UN special rapporteur Reem Alsalem regarding the Scottish Government’s proposals.

In a lengthy critique of the Bill, Alsalem argued that it was a danger to women and urged Holyrood to “complete a thorough assessment of all foreseeable consequences” to the legislation.

But the group, claiming to represent Scotland’s women’s and human rights sector, told Alsalem in the letter that the Bill was – in their opinion – “progressive”, “proportionate” and ‘safe’.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had previously ignored Alsalem’s concerns, publicly dismissing the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls as “the person from the UN”.

Funding

According to Engender’s annual report, the organisation received £354,841 from Scottish Government Equality and Human Rights Fund in 2021-22, representing 95 per cent of its total income for the year.

The Scottish Government was also the principal funder of JustRight Scotland in 2021-22, and Government grants of nearly £1.4 million were paid to Rape Crisis Scotland in the same year.

The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre website states: “Our core services are funded by the Justice Department of the Scottish Government”. Scottish Women’s Aid, in its 2021 report, ‘gratefully acknowledged the generous support’ of its funders, including the Scottish Government.