Nicola Sturgeon has denied she is a “destroyer of women’s rights” after JK Rowling wore a T-shirt bearing the accusation.
The First Minister described herself as a “passionate feminist”, when asked about the Harry Potter author’s attack during a media round on Friday.
Rowling, who has sparked backlash for her views on issues relating to gender identity and the trans community, shared a photo of herself wearing the garment in support of a protest outside Holyrood on Thursday against the reform of the Gender Recognition Act.
The Scottish Government has introduced the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which aims to improve and simplify the application process for the Gender Recognition Certificate by making it less lengthy and intrusive.
According to the Scottish government’s website, the Bill does not introduce any new rights for trans people but will mean that trans people can have better access to their human rights.
A majority of MSPs on the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament voiced their support for the general principles of the Bill in a report released on Thursday, with the first vote on the legislation due for the end of this week.
Rowling showed her support on Twitter for the more-than 100 strong protest outside Holyrood, which featured speakers including former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.
Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme ahead of the SNP conference in Aberdeen, the First Minister was asked if she is a destroyer of women’s rights.
She said: “No, I’ve spent my entire life campaigning for women’s rights and I’m a passionate feminist with lots of evidence behind that.
“I respect people’s views on this – people are entitled to express their views however they wish.”
Sturgeon said the Bill is about “reforming an existing process” and “doesn’t give any more rights to trans people and it doesn’t take any rights away from women”.
She said the threat to women is not trans women, but predatory men.
“Any man who seeks to abuse any process to attack women, we should deal with that, we shouldn’t stigmatise further an already stigmatised group of people,” she said.
“This is a statutory process, there are criminal implications for anybody who abuses that – it is not a process without significant conditions attached to it.”
The current process, the First Minister added, is “stigmatising, it’s traumatic, it’s asking people to effectively prove they are mentally unwell”, adding that anyone caught abusing the process outlined in the new Bill will be committing “a criminal offence”.
She went on: “There are many, many real threats out there to women right now, from attacks – physical attacks, attacks of sexual violence to the removal of abortion and reproductive rights – women in countries like Iran are going through.
“There are no shortage of attacks on women that feminists, real feminists, as I consider myself to be, should be focusing on right now.”