Scottish cops refer to arrested transgender butcher as 'man' despite Sturgeon's controversial gender reform attempts
8 February 2023, 06:59 | Updated: 8 February 2023, 09:06
Scottish police have referred to a transgender woman who was arrested in connection with the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl as a man – despite Nicola Sturgeon's controversial attempts at gender reform.
The butcher, who was born Andrew George Miller but identifies as Amy, was described as a "53-year-old man" by Police Scotland.
The girl, who was missing for more than a day, has been found safe and well near Galashiels in the Scottish borders.
However, the choice of police to call the arrested transgender woman a "man" comes despite Ms Sturgeon's attempts to change the law to make it easier for people to change their legally recognised gender.
It also goes against the approach taken so far by the courts in Scotland.
Police said they had been "very concerned" about the girl's welfare after she disappeared on Sunday.
She was found on Monday night not far from Galashiels.
Locals said Miller had become well-known in the community.
"It was about six years ago that Andy changed his name and started dressing and styling his hair as a female. There was shock among the shopkeepers when the transition happened," one said.
The gender reforms have caused a storm in Scotland, after double rapist Isla Bryson, who has male genitals but identifies as a woman, got held in a female prison before outrage forced authorities to move her.
Ms Sturgeon has refused to be drawn on whether Bryson is male or female but has used female pronouns when referring to the rapist.
The rapist's estranged wife said she believed Bryson was "bull*******" authorities by saying they now identified as a woman.
When passing her gender reform laws, Ms Sturgeon voted down an amendment stopping sex offenders from finding it easier to change their gender.
Westminster has blocked the attempted reform.
And Alex Salmond, Ms Sturgeon's predecessor as first minister, accused her of damaging years of campaigning for independence by getting embroiled in the controversy.
"To get to a position where you say to a majority of our people that you cannot have single-sex spaces – prized and worked and strived for – because of some daft ideology imported from elsewhere and, as we've seen, imperfectly understood by its proponents in Scotland, borders on the totally absurd," he said.
