Mind your language if you want to speak in the Scottish Parliament. Newly elected presiding officer Kenny Gibson has told an interviewer that MSPs must refer to other members using their preferred gender pronouns. Scotland’s devolved elections, held on 7 May alongside England’s local elections, returned two MSPs who express a gender identity at odds with their male sex. Iris Duane considers himself a woman and says his pronouns are she/her. Q Manivannan identifies as ‘non-binary’ and says his pronouns are they/them. In an interview with the Times, Gibson said:

This parliament is likely to push more gender legislation, including odious plans to ban parents from trying to protect their offspring from sinister gender ideologues

This parliament is likely to push more gender legislation, including odious plans to ban parents from trying to protect their offspring from sinister gender ideologues

‘You have to respect what that person wants to be called. And if someone doesn’t do that, then you have to call that out in the chamber and you have to take the appropriate action. If there’s a clear issue of it looks like it’s being deliberate, then you have to act on that because you can’t have someone, a member of the parliament, feeling undervalued or disrespected. So whatever your personal views are of what they call themselves, it is what they want to call themselves, I think, which is significant.’

The guidance on chamber conduct, issued under the previous presiding officer, is a moveable feast. While acknowledging that........

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