AT first glance it might not be obvious how the chanting and colourful banners outside Vancouver Public Library relate to some rather less lively evidence sessions about census questions at the Scottish Parliament. But the protests in Canada a week ago are part of the same global debate about identity as last month’s discussions about whether Scots should be required to declare their biological sex.
To listen to those leading the chants – including “No TERFs, not KKK, no fascists here today!” – you’d be forgiven for thinking headline speaker Meghan Murphy was some kind of racist and colonialist, prone to inciting violent acts against minorities. What would not be immediately clear is that Murphy’s crime, in the eyes of those who would silence her, is stating that men cannot become women.
In fact her opponents would argue this is not just a crime in their eyes, but also according to the laws of the land…
Read the rest of this column at heraldscotland,com
Published in the Herald Magazine on January 19 2019.
Shona Craven 