The Need to Pause for Further Thought

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ScotPAG blogs have focussed on providing a critique of gender ideology; its flaws, its poor evidence base, its impact on children and families, and on society. There have been various surprises along the way; none bigger perhaps than the refusal of many public institutions to follow the Supreme Court Ruling (16th April 2025) and its clarity regarding its definition of biological sex. That men were men and women were women for all purposes as far as the law was concerned, seems to have come as a surprise for many. We have witnessed the grudging acceptance of the Scottish Government, public institutions and the, ‘We’re waiting for the guidance,’ trope. We’ve heard from others who continue to state that the law means something different, something more akin to ‘Stonewall Law’ - stalling tactics all.

Which brings us to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Session 7 held on 12th November. What a travesty of Scottish democracy! The focus was on the implementation of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee (EHRC) Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations which is a practice guide to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

There is plenty online coverage regarding the contorted musings and questions of certain MSPs and contributors to the committee. Avid readers are likely to have witnessed and had their fill of unhinged MSP meanderings and women’s rights contributors’ patient and reasoned inputs. So ScotPAG is not going to cover the detail of any of that. But it does seem pertinent to take a pause and ask why have we got to this point?

Why are the leaders of our public services are failing to follow the law?

Why are the politicians who are governing us spending so much time and effort trying to impose an unprecedented ideology on all of us?

Why is our education system intent on ideologically indoctrinating our children?

It would appear that there has been a quiet revolution. So quiet that we have not really noticed until recently. This is a revolution that denies facts and creates its own narrative. It has created a societal orthodoxy which tells us what we are allowed to say and not say. Contrary to its claims of ‘progressive’ and ‘equity for all’, it is quite the opposite: it is authoritarian and veritably dystopian. The reason that the  SNP and Green MSPs behaved in the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee the way they did, is quite simple: self-interest. These individuals have no intention of serving and representing ordinary people. They give no care about human issues. They are there to adhere to what they think is the prevailing orthodoxy and if necessary, spout meaningless drivel in an attempt to protect it.  They have no thought about the long-term impact of this cult and the implications for society and individuals. Their maintenance of a damaging ideology via soft authoritarian methods is truly worrying and raises the questions : Where do we go from here? Can we ever return to a normal state of things?

The cult of vested interests is a most unprepossessing sight indeed.

Carolyn Brown    ScotPAG Convenor

14th November 2026