JK Rowling hits out at 'Scottish Endarkenment' amid fresh gender row

The First Minister said he had not changed his mind since telling a BBC radio phone-in show in July that "there is the male and female gender".

It came as JK Rowling hit out at what she described as the “Scottish Endarkenment” on social media.

Official guidance issued by the Scottish Government’s chief statistician, Roger Halliday, listed around two dozen different ways a person may identify, although some definitions overlap.

These include “genderfluid”, which is described as “denoting or relating to a person who does not identify as having a single unchanging gender”, and “genderqueer”, defined as “a gender identity that is other than male or female, is a combination of the two genders, or is on a continuum between the two genders”.

Asked how many genders he thinks there are, Mr Swinney told journalists on Monday: “I’ve not changed my view from what I said earlier on. The chief statistician’s point, I think, is quite simply about the handling of statistical data, and these are judgements made by the chief statistician based on their statutory role, so it’s not for me to question statutory decisions of the chief statistician. It would be wrong for me to do so.”

Conservative MSP Tess White said: "Wasting time and resources on this shows how disconnected the SNP Government are from the real world and why people are sick of politicians at Holyrood failing to focus on issues that concern them.

"The SNP need to stop playing to the minority and start governing for the majority by showing common sense and focussing on the real priorities of the people of Scotland."

Writing on X, Ms Rowling, a long-term critic of the Scottish Government over trans issues, joked: “As the Scottish Endarkenment gathers pace, star signs will follow.”

The guidance issued by Mr Halliday is intended to help public bodies collect data on sex, gender identity and trans status. It says people who say they are transgender or have a “trans history” should be asked if they would like to describe their trans status in their own words, and responses can then be categorised.

There are four trans categories in the guidance - trans man, trans woman, non-binary or unspecified. However, it then provides 19 further subcategories. These include intersex people and those who have “detransitioned”, as well as a number of different gender identities.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The point of the survey is to collect information on the respondents' trans history and how they would define it. It is therefore important that the survey is designed in such a way that allows that information to be captured."

Appearing on BBC Radio Five Live over the summer, Mr Swinney was repeatedly pressed on the question of how many genders there are.

He eventually said: "I think people will debate and discuss that. From my point of view, there's the male and female gender."

At the time, Ms Rowling compared him to a “teenager trying to bulls*** his way through questions on a book he's never read”.