We are not the threat – 199 days later at the Scottish Parliament

Image shows a placard in trans colours showing a trans symbol and the words "We are not the threat" — The far right are the real threat to women’s rights

On 1st November 2025 Resisting Transphobia in Edinburgh (RTiE) led a demonstration to support and protect Scotland’s transgender community in the face of rising persecution and discrimination.

The demonstration was scheduled to coincide with – and counteract – a protest from pressure group Women Won’t Wheesht over the implementation of the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling for single-sex spaces. They were meeting outside the Scottish Parliament, 199 days after the SC ruling, to demand that the ruling be immediately implemented across all government departments, services and policies – a policy that RTiE believes is demeaning and dehumanising for trans people.

We were there for collective liberation. We were there to resist hateful attempts to legislate trans people out of public life. We were there to show TERFS that they cannot divide us. We were there to resist the far-right’s misogynist attempts to control women’s and trans people’s bodies, because at the end of the day it is the far right that is the real threat to women’s rights.

Many thanks to all the awesome speakers on the day. Jo, Lenny, Mairi, Nat, Nic, Oliver, Penny, Q and Sigrid. Not only for your support, but for the message that there is an inclusive and progressive feminist tradition that seeks liberation for all.

Quotes:

Sigrid Nielsen, lesbian and lifelong feminist:
“I’ve been a feminist for 50 years – and in that time I’ve seen lesbians and feminists change the world. Change means reaching out to others who are oppressed – people of colour, working-class people, queer people, trans people. After all this time and change we know it works. We can be a fractious community but we have a lot to give each other and learn from each other. On 1 November we are standing strong and together and saying no to the idea that feminism is a fortress and segregation is liberation. Audre Lorde, lesbian writer, urged us all to confront the fear of difference – the strongest weapon in the master’s hands. Please join us if you can to support our trans sisters and all trans and non-binary people.”

Scottish Greens: Q Manivannan
“Any feminism that’s built on hate toward vulnerable and trans people is not feminism but bigotry in a pink disguise. Most cis women create spaces of refuge for trans people who face much of the same (trans)misogynistic violence that cis women do. Meanwhile, Women Won’t Wheesht and For Women Scotland spend their money and resources harassing the 1%, slaying a monster of their own invention. If this energy was spent combating the far right, filled with men who assault and harass women and trans people at every turn and have weaponised FWS’’s transphobia, we’d have a better world. But they don’t — so the rest of us will.”

RTiE: Erica Brooks
“As a non-trans woman and a feminist, I consider bodily autonomy essential to feminism. Trans rights and women’s rights are not just complementary – they are the same struggle. You can’t attack my sister’s autonomy without attacking mine too. The extreme right wants us to believe we can improve our lives by turning on each other, but that has never been true.”

Trans Kids Deserve Better:
“Trans Kids Deserve Better Scotland will be at this protest because we CANNOT let TERFs win. We will continue to fight for our rights despite the growing marginalisation of our community.

Time and time again, TERFs continue to use the argument that ‘kids aren’t mature enough’ or ‘they’ll grow out of it’, listen from the transgender’s mouth TERFs, WE ARE TRANS, WE WILL NOT GROW OUT OF IT, THIS IS WHO WE ARE! and no ‘gender critical’ TERF will tell US otherwise!”