Sinn Féin, SDLP, and Alliance politicians clashed with a gender-critical women’s rights group at a “tense” Stormont committee on equality law, criticising both its arguments and language after it defended the retention of single-sex spaces for women and girls.
The Women’s Rights Network Northern Ireland (WRN NI) gave evidence to the Executive Office (TEO) committee as part of its inquiry into gaps in equality legislation.
Despite Northern Ireland not having a formal ‘Self-ID’ policy, WRN argued that public bodies had adopted it in practice without consultation. They described this as an unacceptable circumvention of democratic oversight. Self-ID refers to the ability of an individual to declare their own sex without medical or legal requirements.
The group also told the committee that the Executive’s strategy to end violence against women and girls must provide a clear definition of the sexes, arguing that biological sex should not be conflated with self-declared gender identity.
WRN’s appearance marks the first time a gender-critical organisation has been invited to give evidence at Stormont, despite numerous appearances by LGBTQ+ lobby groups over the years. The invitation came from TUV Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Timothy Gaston, who shares concerns about the definition of ‘woman’ and the influence of gender identity ideology on public policy.
Debate on sex and gender has become increasingly contentious in the committee, where previous sessions have seen the chair object to language that challenged prevailing narratives on gender identity theory. Wednesday’s session saw similar tensions, with nationalists and Alliance MLAs objecting not just to WRN’s arguments, but also to their choice of words.
Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín dismissed WRN’s contribution as “disgraceful”, before claiming: “We’ve had ‘no gays apply’ beforehand, and now it’s ‘no trans apply’.”
WRN rejected this characterisation, stating that trans people “should have all the human rights that everybody else has” and pointing out that their position is not to exclude anyone from public spaces, but to maintain single-sex spaces based on biological reality.
Alliance’s Stewart Dickson objected to WRN’s use of the word “pretend” to describe men identifying as women, arguing that trans people would be “traumatised and offended” by such language. SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin also took issue with WRN’s language-use insisting that not everyone “fits neatly” into male and female categories.
Committee chair Paula Bradshaw questioned WRN’s concerns about safeguarding, stating that she was “more afraid of a man who presents as a man than as a trans woman”. She also challenged the group to provide evidence of trans women’s involvement in violent crime. WRN said they were happy to supply after the session.
DUP MLA Brian Kingston thanked WRN for “taking a stand” on women’s rights, stating: “We must have tolerance across society on how people wish to live their lives, but that doesn’t mean we try to rewrite the basics of the human species.” However, he pressed WRN on how they believed tolerance could be extended to transgender people within a framework that also protected women’s rights.
WRN’s Policy & Engagement Officer, Marianne Buchanan Stewart, responded that their position was not exclusionary – some trans people support single-sex spaces, and others do not – but that women should not be compelled to surrender their rights.
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston described WRN’s invitation to Stormont as a “breakthrough moment” and pressed them on whether they had ever been consulted on the Executive’s flagship strategy for ending violence against women and girls. They confirmed they had not, despite its direct relevance to their advocacy.
“There are those in public life who are hostile to the idea that there are two sexes,” Gaston observed.
Buchanan Stewart argued that the rejection of biological reality had led to an atmosphere where dissenters – particularly women – face social and professional consequences for challenging gender ideology. “They could define themselves as a horse and I wouldn’t care. But I’m not going to feed them hay and put a saddle on them and ride them round a field,” she added.
Throughout the session, WRN raised concerns that women are increasingly pressured into silence, both in public discourse and in the workplace, simply for expressing views that were, until recently, mainstream. They called for legal clarity on the definition of sex and urged policymakers to ensure that public data reflects biological reality rather than self-declared gender identities.
As the committee wrapped up, Bradshaw acknowledged the session had been “tense” – a fitting reflection of a deepening divide not just over equalities policy, but over the limits of permissible speech in debates on gender ideology.
There’s more on this story here.
