Women wearing suffragette colors made to remove the clothing or leave Scottish Parliament

A woman wearing the suffragette colors of green, white, and purple were asked to leave a parliamentary committee room Monday where members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) were debating Scotland’s controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill, but the Presiding Officer has since apologized for the way she was treated.

The woman was asked by a security guard to remove her green, white and purple scarf and when she refused, she was asked to leave, reported The Herald. 

According to The Herald, the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous but tweets under the name Obsolescence, had been observing the committee for just ten minutes when she was approached by security and asked to remove her scarf. 

“I asked how they (the suffragette colors) could be political when several MSPs and their advisors are wearing rainbow lanyards and he squirmed and said ‘yeah I understand,'” the woman said in a statement to The Herald.

Post Millennial editor-in-chief Libby Emmons took to Twitter to point out the extent to which those with supposedly liberal values feel justified in silencing women and controlling how they think and what they wear. 

“Anyone see how insane it is the liberals are the ones preventing women from speaking, are telling women what they can and can't wear, and demanding women give up the very definition of their sex to men?” said Emmons.

Those who questioned the decision were originally informed that the colors were a breach of the visitors’ code of conduct which states “banners, flags, or political slogans, including clothing and accessories” are not permitted.

However, Joanna Cherry KC of the Scottish National Party stated no rule had been broken.

“It seems no rule has been broken so this woman should be readmitted or the scotparl could face a claim of discrimination on the grounds of belief, particularly where MSPs are permitted to wear rainbow colours. This is not my Scotland,” Cherry tweeted.

Then, according to The Herald, at the beginning of the day Tuesday, the Presiding Officer of the committee apologized for the way the women were treated.

Alison Johnstone told the assembled MSPs that there had been an error and that “suffrage colours are not and never have been banned in Scottish Parliament. We actively support and promote universal suffrage in a number of ways at Holyrood and we will continue to do so.”

“The action taken was an error and I would like to apologise on behalf of the parliament,” Johnstone continued. “The wearing of a scarf in those colours does not in itself breach the visitor code of conduct.”

Tory MSP Rachel Hamilton commended the Presiding Officer’s statement.

“I think it’s important that you have confirmed that MSPs are treated exactly the same way as members of the public and the suffragette colours were not in breach of the guidelines set by this parliament,” she said while draped in green, white, and purple tartan. “So I can thank you for your intervention and for sharing that with parliament and being clear regarding that.”

Scotland is in the midst of a very heated debate surrounding the issue of gender self-identification. The proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act currently being debated include removing the requirement for an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to change legal sex, reducing the amount of time lived in the chosen gender from two years to just three months, and lowering the minimum age from 18 to 16.