[user104658]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Has the penny finally dropped that in fact most people disagree with this and stuff like this could lose them elections? I seriously doubt it's because he's suddenly concerned for women's safety and fairness in sport

It has (in part) tanked a lot of the SNP's support in Scotland. It's not even about being supportive of trans people or otherwise... it's the refusal to have a good faith debate/conversation on the topic that's doing the damage. When it comes up it's the same old "Stonewall inspired" techniques at play which is essentially the idea that you just refuse the debate (that the debate in itself is -phobic) and forge ahead. It's not a stance that sits well with people these days.

Basically people just want their concerns to be taken seriously and, when changes are made to things like policy, to be reassured that the work has actually been done instead of this turgid attitude of "it's offensive for you to say work would need to be done!".