One of the signs of greatness in an artist’s output is their relevance to not only their own times, but future generations.
Rabbie Burns is one such. Not only relevant to his own folks, but to cultures and peoples across the globe.
An Ayrshire lad.
Today’s Burns Day in Edinburgh marked the anniversary of the Bard with a demonstration which highlighted some of his most cherished values: the rights of man and respect for the rights of women.
In response to the SNP’s mishandling of the surging demand for an independence referendum, their failure to stand up for Scotland over Brexit, and most recently the utter betrayal of women’s rights and children’s rights through the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, activists from different political parties gathered outside the First Minister’s residence, Bute House, to call on Nicola Sturgeon to resign.
The consequences of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill will be far-reaching if it ever becomes law.
The Bill makes it incredibly easy for men to become legally women. That would mean that a man who chose to be a woman could take advantage of all the rights and protections which women’s rights campaigners have struggled for over centuries – but with no need for the surgery which would remove those parts of his anatomy which might present a threat to women. I’m being polite. The less polite version is this.
A ‘cock in a frock’ can go wherever he likes.
- Women’s representation on public boards can be taken by a man.
- Women’s places in sports can be taken by a man.
- Intimate examinations following a case of rape can be done by a man, no matter what the victim wants.
- A woman giving birth has no right to insist on a woman as a midwife.
- Women’s toilets, changing rooms, fitting rooms in shops are all open to men claiming transgender status.
The bard himself knew better: this from 1792.
