Editorial: The gender confusion in Scotland over prisoners now rears its head in Northern Ireland

​Last year there was uproar in Scotland when a man who raped two women was sent to an all-female jail in Scotland.

​The man claimed to be a woman. An ensuing debate centred around whether or not someone’s claims to have changed their male identity should be taken at face value.

At a news conference, the then first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon was repeatedly asked whether she thought that the rapist was a man or a woman. It was not the first time that politicians have been made to look silly over trans issues, with leading Westminster politicians unable to answer whether or not women can have a penis, or whether or not it is ‘people’ who give birth, or only women.

Not so long ago a primary school child could have answered such questions. Now some woke political leaders have been reduced to mumbling confusion by them.

We report on our front page today that a transgender woman detained on charges of threatening to kill her neighbour has won a landmark High Court battle to be transferred to NI’s female prison.

This case is still sub judice and so it would not be appropriate to comment on the details of the proceedings. But it is striking that a solicitor in the case has highlighted the absence “of a clear policy for transgender individuals in custody within Northern Ireland, a gap that has caused ... delays and distress”.

Stormont has not been slow to jump into some complex issues: note how NI went from having a strict ban on abortion to a liberal policy, pushed through by London. Now MLAs are imposing harsh restrictions on so much as protest against terminations.

On puberty blockers for teens, there was hesitation in some quarters on a ban.

In America Donald Trump saw clearly that men should not compete in women’s sport and won much support for that. Ms Sturgeon was less sure, and suffered politically.