An MSP has criticised a Scottish Government quango over pro-transgender bias in documents relating to the 2021 census.
The SNP’s Kenneth Gibson asked why National Records of Scotland (NRS) referred to “cisgender” men and women.
Concerns have also been raised about the guidance for the census which could allow people to ‘self-identify’ as male or female.
Agenda
Mr Gibson argued that ‘cisgender’ was a “contested and politicised” term, saying “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just use the words man and woman”.
The Herald newspaper reported that during a committee meeting at Holyrood, Mr Gibson told the NRS that cisgender is a term “many people object to and many people are completely unfamiliar with”.
He added that the quango seemed to have “its own agenda on this particular issue regardless of what other people think”.
The NRS has also proposed that individuals should answer the male/female census question according to how they self-identify, regardless of their birth certificate.
Ideology
In October last year, another SNP MSP spoke out against allowing people to ‘pick their own sex’.
Joan McAlpine – MSP for the South of Scotland – said women and children are at risk from the ideology.
She added that it was “appalling” that people who raise concerns about transgenderism are being shouted down.