Blogs
Featured Image
Nicola SturgeonYouTube

(LifeSiteNews) — Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party, who has been embroiled in controversy for months over her unpopular Gender Recognition Reform Bill and her radical transgender agenda, abruptly resigned February 15. Sturgeon had been facing intense criticism over the consequences of her transgender legislation, which included a male rapist being sent to a women’s prison.

Sturgeon, however, is insisting that her transgender agenda — which is opposed by a majority of Scottish people — is not the reason for her resignation, stating that the turmoil over the Gender Recognition Reform Bill was not the “final straw” and rather ironically stating that she was proud of having been Scotland’s “first female and longest-serving first minister.” Sturgeon had held the office for eight years.

In what most interpret as a veiled reference to the furor, Sturgeon stated, “I have been, and will always be, a feminist. But I will also stand up for any stigmatized, discriminated against, marginalized and vulnerable group in society.” Feminists such as J.K. Rowling, of course, have accused Sturgeon of being a “destroyer of women’s rights,” and the women locked behind bars with the brawny male rapists might beg to differ.

Despite her protestations to the contrary, most observers believe that Sturgeon decided to resign over the backlash to her trans agenda. Helen Lewis noted in The Atlantic that Sturgeon had ignored all critics of her radical law, insisting that it would have now downside — until it became obvious that those urging caution were correct:

And so she came under extreme pressure when, in January, the Scottish Prison Service sent a rapist to a women’s facility. Sturgeon overturned the agency’s decision, but not before many excruciating interviews where she seemed to imply there were three genders: man, woman, and sex offender. Isla Bryson “regards herself as a woman,” Sturgeon said last week, but “I regard the individual as a rapist.”

Sturgeon had been warned about such a possibility but had blithely discounted it … Sturgeon suggested that her opponents on gender were reactionaries and bigots. Political disagreements were recast as matters of patriotism or morality.

It would be too simplistic to say that Sturgeon resigned in disgrace — she did, after all, serve for nearly a decade and outlasted four Tory prime ministers. But it is certainly true that in her attempt to make the transgender movement the next great civil rights struggle, she managed instead to polarize the debate, alienate a majority of the voting public, and then become a cautionary tale for those who wish to assert that a man can become a woman simply by saying so. She insisted that no reasonable person could have concerns about the trans agenda — within mere months, the very scenarios she dismissed as bizarre bigoted fever dreams unfolded, leaving her incoherent and speechless.

In fact, I suspect that Sturgeon simply boiled the frog too fast. By insisting on enshrining the tenets of gender ideology into law, she managed to highlight for the voting public the delusional demagoguery of trans activists and to showcase the results of a regime in which gender ideology governs practical policy. Voters didn’t like what they saw — and didn’t care for the fact that Sturgeon had insisted that anyone who pointed out that scenarios like a male rapist ending up in a female prison were moral defectives. Sturgeon misread the moment and decided that championing the transgender cause would make her a progressive hero.

Indeed, the fact that Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was willing to invest political capital in blocking Sturgeon’s transgender agenda and the fact that her trans activism was a significant contributor to her political demise may result in an adjustment of political calculations when it comes to this issue. I certainly hope so.

Featured Image

Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.

5 Comments

    Loading...