One might imagine that Scotland’s political class would have seen the light by now. Its endless kowtowing to the demands of trans-identified men has exposed elected officials, NGOs, and even courts to international ridicule. It’s even played a role in ending the careers of two leaders of the governing Scottish National Party (SNP)—which recently lost 39 of the 48 seats it previously held at Westminster. Yet the campaign to let men self-identify into the ranks of women appears to exercise a death-like grip at the highest levels of the Scottish political establishment.

The current occupant of the First Minister’s official residence is John Swinney, who can barely conceal his irritation as he faces the same questions that undid his predecessors: What is a woman? Do you support single-sex spaces? Why did you vote for legislation that would have permitted men to pass legally as women? Last month, after days of issuing contradictory statements, Swinney finally threw his lot in with the old SNP dogma. Asked whether he believes self-described trans women are, in fact, actual women, he answered, “I accept that to be the case.” Whether Swinney truly, genuinely accepts this view—whether anyone believes it is possible for human beings to literally change sex—is another matter. But the fact that Scotland has had three First Ministers in a row who profess to believe such nonsense should fill all rational people with dismay.

Swinney still believes transwomen have the right to female facilities

John Swinney has confirmed that he supports transgender employees being able to use the toilets and changing rooms they feel most comfortable with.

Daily MailMichael Blackley

Swinney’s public embrace of this core tenet of gender ideology came just days after Scotland (and the rest of the UK) became transfixed by the case of a nurse, Sandie Peggie, who was suspended by a hospital in eastern Scotland after she’d objected to having to share a changing room with a male doctor (named “Beth Upton”) who claims to be a woman. Peggie subsequently lodged a complaint of harassment regarding Upton’s changing-room behaviour, while Upton has launched his own (thinly substantiated) claims against Peggie.

In one of many confusing pronouncements that followed the case’s adjournment, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville, appeared to embrace common sense, saying that the SNP government “stands firmly behind” the provisions of the 2010 Equality Act. This is the legislation that allows organisations (such as Peggie’s employer, National Health Service Fife, better known as NHS Fife) to operate single-sex spaces as a means to protect (actual) women. In Scotland, however, such pronouncements inevitably attract the wrath of trans activists. And so Somerville’s statement was followed by ritualised assurances that she and her colleagues all “continue to support the trans community.”