Paul O’Kane: I regret turning off my critical thinking on gender reforms

A Labour MSP has admitted to “turning off my critical thinking” during the passage of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

Paul O’Kane, speaking exclusively to Holyrood, said there was “a lot that I regret” about the passage of that bill.

But he added it had also taught him to “take time to engage” with a range of views during consideration of legislation.

The bill was passed by parliament in December 2022 but was ultimately blocked from becoming law by the UK Government, which put in place a section 35 order due to concerns it impacted on reserved areas of law.

At the time of its passage, Labour backed the legislation. However leader Anas Sarwar has since said he “regrets” the decision and would have opposed it "knowing what we know now".

O’Kane, who is now the party’s education spokesman and previously held the equalities brief, told Holyrood: “There is a lot that I regret about that whole process of the gender reforms. I regret sometimes turning off my critical thinking and allowing that thing to be something that somebody else would deal with, because I've got a view and my view’s fine.

“I've since tried to take time to engage and I understand that we're going to have to try and find a way through that recognises the very legitimate concerns that women have and understanding where that comes from, because very often, for a lot of women, it comes from the deep-seated place of their own trauma and I regret not recognising that at the time.”

He also admitted that as Labour’s first openly gay MSP he felt “pressure” to “act in a certain way” when it came to the debate.

He said: “I think as the only gay member of the group, the Labour group, and the first gay man for the party elected to Holyrood, I did feel that there was a whole weight of pressure on me, on a whole range of issues. I think I did come in with a set view of who I needed to be within the Labour group and candidly, I probably didn't do a huge amount of critical thinking at times on the GRR bill and perhaps didn't engage until the end.”

The West Scotland MSP was elected in 2021 and immediately joined the party’s frontbench as shadow public health minister.

While he is standing for election in May, he has been placed fourth on the party list which could put him at risk of not returning.

The MSP also opened up about how, as a practicing Catholic, his faith has shaped his politics.

And reflecting on the row that erupted after Kate Forbes’ comments about her religious beliefs relating to equal marriage and abortion, O’Kane said that was a problem with people viewing “folk who have faith as being sort of all of the one flavour or of the one view”.

However, he “regrets” not using the opportunity to “reach out” to other politicians of faith.

He said: “Views expressed by Kate Forbes jarred because I wouldn't consider them to be mainstream views within Christianity. And yet… maybe the encounter between people of faith in this place hasn't been as good as it should be. And actually, did we reach out to one another when Kate was being attacked for her faith and try and have that broader theological debate that could have enriched us all?  No, we didn't. And perhaps I regret that as an opportunity missed to learn from each other and to not see everything as black and white.”