Scotland doesn’t need a ‘non-binary action plan’

Scotland’s government has plenty of things on its to-do list: tackling inflation, dealing with unemployment and cleaning up the mess left behind by Nicola Sturgeon. But amidst these tasks, it has found time to wade into the gender debate – by publishing its ‘non-binary equality action plan’ to help those who do not fit in to one gender or another.

Predictably, not everyone is happy. Tory MSP Murdo Fraser – a former deputy leader of the Scottish Conservative party – quipped: ‘Choosing to identify as ‘non-binary’ is as valid as choosing to identify as a cat.’

For that, Fraser has got himself into hot water with the usual suspects. Maggie Chapman – the Scottish Green MSP who has previously suggested consideration should be given to the prospect of eight-year-olds legally changing sex – was outraged.

‘It lays bare the Tories’ complete failure to grasp the fact that binary gender identities are restrictive and fail to capture the full, beautiful diversity of humanity,’ she fumed.

Fraser’s comparison was hardly helpful but you can perhaps see what he is getting at. As a transsexual, I wish this concept of gender identity could be consigned to the bin. Human beings are indeed diverse, but let us be free to be ourselves. Nobody should be railroaded into some pre-packaged identity, no matter how colourful the flag.

But this nonsense has gripped a UK administration which seems determined to spend taxpayers’ money on an action plan for people who identify as ‘having a gender which is in-between or beyond the two categories ‘man’ and ‘woman’, as fluctuating between ‘man’ and ‘woman’, or as having no gender, either permanently or some of the time.’ That astonishing definition was developed by the Scottish government, apparently through engagement with people who have lived experience of identifying as non-binary. Have our elected representatives nothing better to do?

It is tempting to treat this act of frivolity, which was published last week, with ridicule. Yet aside from the expense involved, there’s another troubling thing about this plan: what it might mean for children. ‘We must ensure that education is inclusive of non-binary children and young people and that teachers have the knowledge and skills to work with them, support them and include them,’ the report says.

Why? Who told these children they were non-binary – in a separate category to other children – and why is the Scottish government playing along with it? Children need to be told the truth: that there are two sexes, and while they may be able to shun the social conventions associated with their sex, they cannot opt out of their sex altogether. But the SNP – aided and abetted in government by Chapman’s Scottish Greens – wants to work with the Scottish Education Management Information System provider (SEEMiS) to create a gender identity option to record pupils who identify as non-binary. As a result, the whims of children could become enshrined in official records.

Another red flag is raised in the section entitled ‘Participation in Decision Making’. ‘To improve the lives of non-binary people,’ the report says, ‘we must meaningfully involve them in our decision-making’. Not only that, the action plan makes a commitment to ‘financially compensate individuals for their time and contributions’. This will delight activists itching for change in policies on gender – but invariably it spells bad news for the silent majority of Scots who think the government should focus on more pressing issues.

The truth is that this initiative is a solution looking for a problem. People who identify as non-binary have the same rights as everyone else. Perhaps we need to be mindful of those who choose to eschew the stereotypes associated with their sex, but we do not need to make them the centre of attention. That doesn’t mean, of course, that we should make cheap jokes at their expense; Murdo Fraser please note. But we need to face up to the fact that youngsters identifying as non-binary may be genuinely vulnerable after being encouraged to build their lives on a vacuous ideology. If they need help, it is to assimilate into everyday life, not an expensive action plan that perpetuates the idea that non binary people are different to everyone else.

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Debbie Hayton is a teacher and journalist.

* This article was first published by The Spectator on 21 November 2023: Scotland doesn’t need a ‘non-binary action plan’.