Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon unexpectedly resigned Wednesday following months of shock over relaxed transgender laws that allowed a rapist to be sent to a female prison.
Sturgeon, 52, said she was stepping down “proud” of getting been “the primary female and longest-serving” first minister, calling it the “privilege of my life” to have led the country’s devolved government for eight years.
She noted what number of will likely be “upset” by her shock announcement while quipping that others will “cope just effective.”
“For all and sundry in Scotland who loves me, there may be one other who, let’s say, won’t be quite so enthusiastic,” she noted of her critics.
Sturgeon insisted that outrage over her divisive Gender Recognition Reform — which permit anyone over 16 to vary gender designation without medical diagnosis — had not been the “final straw.”
The reform was hailed by transgender campaigners as a landmark move. But anger boiled over last month when it emerged a shaven-headed rapist was sent to a female prison after declaring she was a transgender female.
“I actually have been, and can all the time be, a feminist,” Sturgeon said of her critics, including “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling who accused her of being a “destroyer of ladies’s rights” with the laws.
“But I can even arise for any stigmatized, discriminated against, marginalized and vulnerable group in society,” she said.
Still, she maintained that her “really hard” decision to quit was “not a response to short-term pressures” like those transgender reforms.
As a substitute, she decried the “brutality” of life as a frontrunner, saying it “takes its toll on you.”
The job — which included being deputy first minister for eight years before taking on at the highest — had been “a privilege” but additionally “really hard … relentlessly so,” she said.
“Let’s be clear, I’m not expecting violins here, but I’m a human being, in addition to a politician,” she said, decrying not with the ability to exit for lone walks or grab coffee with a friend.
“Giving absolutely the whole lot of yourself to this job is the one solution to do it,” Sturgeon said. “But in reality, that may only be done by anyone for thus long. For me it’s now in peril of becoming too long.”
She stressed that she intended to stay in Parliament fighting for her favored causes.
“Watch this space — there’s plenty more to come back,” she said.
Scotland is an element of the UK but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas including health care.
As leader of the Scottish National Party, Sturgeon had sought to realize independence from the UK.
