LITTLEJOHN

THE Scottish Highland Games Association is considering introducing non-binary transgender categories for the first time in its 1,000-year history. Until now, the Games have been an allmale affair. Women are still not permitted to take part. All that might change if the Highland Association follows the lead of Scottish Athletics, which recently agreed to admit ‘trans’ athletes. They could hardly allow transsexuals to compete, while excluding women. But stranger things have happened. If this does go through, I’d love to see the look on the face of the Duke of Edinburgh when he has to present the cup to the first trans competitor to win the caber-tossing contest at Braemar. James Morton, manager of the Scottish Trans Alliance, welcomed the move. ‘With such a wide range of Highland Games events, including the tug’o’war, Highland dancing and solo piping, there doesn’t need to be a one-size-fits-all approach.’ Curiously, though, he added that he was ‘not aware of any trans individuals or groups who have been applying pressure on the Highland Games to become non-binary inclusive’. No, the impetus has come from a Labour MSP threatening to oppose government grants unless the Games starts promoting gender equality. Not before time, either. Judging by the size of some of the birds you see in Glasgow on a Saturday night, they could easily give most of the men a run for their money. And it would certainly mean that competitors in the Highland Games would no longer be judged by what’s under their kilt.