ALBA CONDEMN GREENS

For immediate release: Friday 14 April 2023

ALBA CONDEMN GREEN MSPs CALL FOR RAPIST ISLA BRYSON TO BE RECOGNISED AS A WOMAN

ALBA Party Westminster Group Leader Neale Hanvey MP has launched an attack on the Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman for her statement that convicted rapist “Isla Bryson is a trans woman” and should be entitled to legal recognition.

“This contribution from Maggie Chapman represents a new low in the debate about gender recognition and shows why the Greens should be nowhere near government in Scotland. 

“You cannot, you will not, and you should not ever gain the trust and support of the majority of the people of Scotland to face down Westminster so that a rapist has the right to become a woman.

“There are many people in the north east and across Scotland who will simply be aghast and outraged at these remarks and the continuing failure of Maggie Chapman to recognise that this individual is a bad actor, who as their wife recognised, sees their transition as ‘a big joke’.

“Unfortunately for woman whose single sex spaces are at risk from gender self-id this is no laughing matter and the fact that the Scottish Greens are prepared to countenance a convicted double rapist like Bryson being able to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and to enter a female prison is a betrayal of the safety, dignity and privacy of all women and of genuine trans women.

“Maggie Chapman has shown herself not just to be completely out of touch with the majority of opinion in Scotland, in support of self-identification for trans people, without appropriate gatekeeping and safeguards for women and girls she is prioritising the demands of a convicted double rapist over the rights of women.  That is totally unacceptable and it is why if she had a shred of decency and sensitivity she would consider her position.”