Why all the fuss about sex and gender and toilets? This is a non-issue

The Herald Scotland

01-05-2025

So the issue, if there is one, must be on a small scale. Of course I may have unknowingly met trans people but, if so, there is, again, little issue. To take an example: if I am standing at a urinal in a public toilet and a trans person, dressed and having the appearance of a man, walks behind me and enters a WC cubicle, I am none the wiser. So no issue. I believe that women's toilets are all-cubicle. So again no issue. "Incorrect" toilet use must surely go undetected and, therefore, be of no threat or concern to anyone.
I am very much in favour of equality in all walks of life and despise bigotry and discrimination but, the public toilet non-issue aside, maybe small inconveniences are just something that members of very small minorities have to accept. Even not-so-small minorities seem to cope as, for instance, in the case of orthodox Jewish folk having to choose from the few restaurants that serve Kosher food.
One still reads about members of the Scottish Government being asked to apologise for their previous stance on the question. I suspect that the overwhelming majority of the public are more concerned about the amount of time and energy being devoted to to the matter, rather than being bothered about the direction in which the Government sways.
Eric Begbie, Stirling.
• I was always under the impression that one of the main roles of a sports governing body was to promote its sport. Hence I am encouraged that the SFA, in banning transgender players (apparently there are currently none playing competitive football in Scotland, but that's another story), has indicated its intention to find ways in which everyone who wants to can play the game ("SFA to introduce rules banning transgender players from women's game", The Herald, April 30).
Other sports have been quick with sanctimonious justifications for similar bans as 'protecting the integrity' of the sport while waving a metaphorical hand in the direction of some vaguely defined and probably non-existent 'open' category. Unfortunately they have been somewhat slower to address some of the more widespread problems in women's sport such as equal pay or the proliferation of ACL injuries in women's football. The concept of Sport for All is an example of positivity in a negative world. Let us not allow it to become another casualty of the Culture Wars.
Robin Irvine, Helensburgh.
Read more letters
Chapman's victory
Congratulations to Maggie Chapman for her spectacular victory in the motion to remove her as deputy chair of the Scottish Parliament Equalities Committee ("Lawyers say Chapman decision is 'surprising and regrettable'", The Herald, April 30). On a 100% turnout she got four (57%) of the seven-MSP electorate and kept her job. Mind, one of them was Ms Chapman herself otherwise it would have been a tie.
When you consider only 664 (4%) of Dundee University's 18,000 students voted for her in her remarkable election as Rector that's a tremendous achievement and shows an seemingly unstoppable upswing in her, and her party's, popularity compared to the Greens' 1.3% share of the constituency vote in the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.
Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.
A legal route to Indyref2
Neil Mackay is keen to put a future decision on an independence referendum into the hands of his predicted bogeyman Reform Secretary of State (ex-Scotland MEP David Coburn maybe?) and from his own point of view, he may be right to do so: it would be entirely consistent for the ex-Ukip party to support a referendum to leave a successful Union ("Yes movement must pursue the goal of Indyref2: or I'll do it myself", Neil Mackay, The Herald, April 28). In which case, penury here we come, as Nigel Farage would most likely seek a "Hard Scexit" to stop "shovelling money over Hadrian's Wall" to the Scots, as he once put it. Mr Mackay should be careful what wishes for.
Be that as it may, he is wrong when he says there is no legal route to Indyref2. In fact that route exists and was used in 2014 – an agreement between Scotland's Holyrood and Westminster parliaments followed by a statutory instrument to give it lawful authority. What Mr Mackay appears to want is a unilateral power at Holyrood, in contradiction of the outcome of the Smith Commission process, which did not recommend that any such transfer of powers should take place. Readers will probably need to be reminded that the Smith Report was unanimously agreed by all of the Holyrood parties, so they were obviously all happy for that to be the case.
For what it is worth, my own view is that the power to hold a referendum could be transferred to Holyrood, with the proviso that it is clear that to do so is the settled will of the Scottish people. That it is our will can be demonstrated by demanding that two-thirds of MSPs vote for it (as is the requirement for other voting arrangements), and that it is settled as such can be shown if that two-thirds vote is maintained in two consecutive Scottish Parliaments.
Peter A Russell, Glasgow.
Devolve full welfare powers
Your interview with the First Minister on the tragic topic of child poverty made for harrowing reading ("FM angers poverty charities over child payment 'limit'", The Herald, April 29). Poverty is something no child should have to experience, especially in a country as well-off as Scotland.
Your article rightly pointed out the work of the SNP Government and its Scottish Child Payment, introduced in 2021 at a rate of £10 per child per week. As of this month (April) this payment will increased once again to £27.15 per week per child. On top of this the Scottish Government has made provision for the two-child benefit cap introduced by the Conservatives and continued under Labour to come to an end in Scotland.
There is no quick fix when addressing poverty, but when scathing cuts continue to be the agenda of Labour at Westminster, all the genuine efforts of the Scottish Government are undermined. In many cases this can even affect one's ability to hold down employment. The Scottish Government has put many mitigating measures in place in an effort to protect Scotland, especially our next generation, from the harsh realities of welfare cuts handed out from Westminster, which still controls around 80% of welfare spend in Scotland.
To fully address child poverty, Scotland needs full welfare powers, not bits and pieces devolved. Current and future generations deserve nothing less.
Catriona C Clark, Falkirk.
Maggie Chapman (Image: PA)
Don't deprive the poor of culture
No, no, no, Eric Melvin (Letters, April 30), we do not want or need, nor can we afford, a universal charge to our museums and art galleries. Your letter is published on the very day that The Herald, along with many other organisations, is calling on the Scottish Government to significantly increase the Scottish Child Payment. You are asking for the many children, and their carers/parents, who are currently living in poverty to pay to enter their local museum. There's a wealth of knowledge in our museums and art galleries and we should not deprive any of our residents, young or old, access to them.
There has been significant news coverage, and letters, in these pages about calls for tax reform in Scotland and this should be considered before penalising us all by asking us to pay for our museums and art galleries. We need a wealth tax, land reform and a creditable local taxation system to replace council tax before hitting the poor in our cities. There is a lot of money squirrelled away in offshore bank accounts and the like that could be put to good use to improve life for us all.
Patricia Fort, Glasgow.