Ex-leader: Scottish Greens engulfed in misogyny over gender reforms

A former Scottish Greens leader says the party is engulfed in misogyny as he reveals he was hauled in front of a conduct committee for trying to delay controversial gender reforms until more was known about the risks.

Robin Harper, who served as co-convener between 2004 and 2008, announced in August he had left the Greens over differences of opinion on independence and concerns over what he believes is a lurch to the far left of politics.

Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Post, the veteran politician revealed the departure was in part fuelled by an incident where he was given a dressing down for attempting to give members a say on whether to wait for a landmark report on gender services.

Dr Hilary Cass’s review found “remarkably weak” evidence for treatments such as puberty blockers and said there is no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.

NHS England has announced a review of adult gender clinics following its publication.

Scotland’s NHS also confirmed it has paused prescribing puberty blockers to children referred by the Sandyford gender clinic.

Motion bid led to dressing down

Harper attempted to lodge a motion at the Greens’ conference that said work on the government’s controversial Gender Recognition Bill should be paused until the Cass Review published its findings.

He said instead of being given assistance by party officials, he was reported to a disciplinary conduct committee.

Harper said: “It’s a sort of political kangaroo court they’ve set up.

“They didn’t do anything other than give me a long lecture that I was in the wrong but it’s the mere fact that my local councillor shopped me in to that committee rather than see what we could do to set up a discussion.

“It was a grave disappointment. There is an enormous amount of misogyny going on within the Green Party here, and also in England and Wales.

“We have at least a dozen women who have been either thrown out or suspended and there is nothing they can do about.

“They can’t lodge motions, they can’t be heard.

“They seem to think it’s clever to just shut people up.”

The Sunday Post revealed last week how a girl who suffered horrific sexual abuse at age five was encouraged by social workers to believe she was “born in the wrong body”.

Meanwhile, nine-year-olds at Lorne Primary School in Edinburgh contacted MSPs with letters demanding gender-­neutral toilets – a move critics say demonstrates how gender ideology has reached even the youngest pupils.

Why did gender bill fail?

The failure to implement the Gender Recognition Reform Bill is one of a number of issues that led to the Greens’ power-sharing agreement with the SNP coming to an end.

The Bill was blocked from proceeding to Royal Assent by the UK Government under Section 35 of the Scotland Act.

It would have made it easier for people to legally change their gender but critics argued it could put women and girls at risk.

Harper – the UK’s first Green parliamentarian – described the Bute House Agreement that saw the Greens enter government for the first time as a wasted opportunity.

He said more effort should have been spent on protecting the environment rather than social issues.

The former MSP said it is “horrendous” to think of any return to the deal in the future because the Greens showed themselves to be unwilling to work outside of their own political bubble.

Problems ‘dangerously underestimated’

Harper told us: “I think both the Greens and the SNP were grossly over ambitious.

“Both parties fell into the mistake of wildly exaggerating what they think they can achieve. When I saw the targets for climate change, I thought we’re never going to do that in a million years.

“When I saw the figures for the recycling, again I thought we weren’t going to be able to do that.

“When I saw what they wanted to do with the legislation on gender dysphoria, I felt it was very important that they wait for the Cass report to come out before coming to decisions because we weren’t doing any research of our own in Scotland.

“It would have been sensible to wait for the report and then base the legislation on what we’ve learned from it but no, they went ahead anyway.

“Again they were wildly overambitious and dangerously underestimated the problems that await us in helping people with gender dysphoria.

“It’s a far bigger problem in so many ways and we’re not equipping ourselves to deal with it properly if we don’t now wait for the more detailed response in England.”

The Scottish Greens did not respond after being approached for comment.