Holyrood accused of ‘discriminatory harassment’ after confiscating feminist badge at rape inquiry
The Scottish parliament has been accused of “discriminatory harassment” after security guards confiscated a badge from a feminist attending a committee inquiry.
The woman was asked by a female guard to remove the small badge from her lapel, which bore the Venus symbol and two Xs representing female chromosomes.
After challenging the request, she said a male guard showed her a picture of the same badge on his phone and told her it was banned because it represented a “lobbying” organisation.
The badge is sold by feminist group For Women Scotland, which campaigns for sex-based rights and has been an outspoken critic of Nicola Sturgeon’s self-ID gender reforms.
The woman was given a receipt for the badge and told she could collect it on her way out. She was then allowed to proceed to a committee inquiry examining how the sex of the accused should be recorded in rape cases.
The woman, who did not want to be named, last year received an apology from Holyrood after being ejected for wearing a scarf in suffragette colours. She described the latest incident as “quite humiliating” but added “they’re not going to stop me”.
The Scottish Parliament said its “visitor behaviour policy” prohibits the “display of banners, flags or political slogans, including on clothing and accessories”.
‘Universally recognised’ symbol
But feminists took to social media to point out that the Venus symbol was “universally recognised” as the biological sign of the female sex.
They also highlighted pictures of MSPs and lobbyists being allowed to wear pro-LGBT symbols. Another visitor the same morning was allowed to keep her Labour Women’s Declaration badge, they said.
Joanna Cherry KC, the SNP MP for Edinburgh South West, tweeted: “This is beyond ‘farcical’. It’s very serious.
“I want to know why a woman visiting her parliament is being repeatedly targeted for her clothing and badges in a way it seems others are not. Looks very like discriminatory harassment.”
Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tories’ shadow justice secretary, said: “The reasons given sound like nonsense. After the farce of a confiscated scarf in suffragette colours during the SNP’s gender self-ID bill debate, they should know better.”
‘They’re not going to stop me’
The woman, who described herself as a middle-aged scientist, told The Herald the incident was “farcical” and “tiring”.
She said: “I’m sick of being approached by security. I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m coming to watch a democratic debate. It can be quite humiliating being approached like this but they’re not going to stop me.”
She added: “It’s not doing anything to encourage women to engage in the democratic process. The way I have been treated in the last two years has been pretty damn poor.”
In Nov 2022 she was ejected by security from a Holyrood committee after refusing to remove a scarf in the purple, white and green of the suffragette movement.
She had been trying to watch an evidence session by the parliament’s equalities committee examining the gender self-ID legislation. Alison Johnstone, the presiding officer, was later forced to apologise for the “error”.
Asked about the new incident, a Scottish parliament spokesman said: “A member of the public was asked to remove a badge in line with the parliament’s visitor behaviour policy which prohibits the display of banners, flags or political slogans, including on clothing and accessories.”
