Just when you think the Scottish Greens can’t get any battier, they do. This Easter Weekend eco-zealot MSP Maggie Chapman took to the streets of Aberdeen on Sunday to pour scorn on last week’s Supreme Court ruling – that saw justices unanimously back the biological definition of a woman – and rant that she sees ‘bigotry, prejudice and hatred’ coming from highest court in the land. Talk about delusional, eh?
Chapman – who blasted the judgment on Wednesday as ‘deeply concerning’ – appeared at a trans activist rally at the weekend to condemn the judgment. Addressing her audience, many of whom were draped in trans rights flags and kitted out in Covid-style face masks, Chapman renounced the Supreme Court ruling, fuming:
We say ‘not in our name’ to the bigotry, prejudice and hatred that we see coming from the Supreme Court and from so many other institutions in our society. Not in our name. Never in our name.
It’s a rather baffling approach to a ruling that offers, um, further clarity to the existing law and doesn’t infringe on the rights of transgender people. Rather concerningly, Chapman holds the position of Deputy Convener of the Equalities Committee in the Scottish parliament – a group that has been urged to interact with For Women Scot in the wake of Wednesday’s judgment. This latest intervention is hardly going to help aid constructive dialogue, eh?
More than that, under the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act, MSPs must uphold the independence of the judiciary – which the eco-activist has quite demonstrably failed to do. Now Chapman is facing calls by legal experts and politicians alike to resign from her committee post – with ex-SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC remarking: ‘It is wholly inappropriate for any parliamentarian to speak about the judiciary in this way and to misrepresent their judgment. This person is not fit to convene a parliamentary committee on equalities.’ The Faculty of Advocates has waded in now too, saying today that the Green MSP’s attack on the Supreme Court is ‘not compatible’ with her equalities committee role. Ouch.
Will Chapman accept the error of her ways and step down? Given this is the same parliamentarian who belatedly offered up a begrudging apology for referring to the 7 October attacks as ‘decolonisation’ not ‘terrorism’, Mr S would advise readers not to hold their breath…
Comments