DUP minister hits out at 'manufactured' row over trans law - and calls on Naomi Long to bring proposals to Executive

The deputy First Minister says claims that the DUP is trying to block “transgender protections” at the Executive is a “manufactured issue” and that Naomi Long is yet to bring her proposals before ministers for approval.

Emma Little-Pengelly was responding to a leaked letter from the justice minister urging other parties to support making transgender people a protected group under new provisions on hate crime.

Emma Little-Pengelly says the justice minister needs to bring her trans proposals to the Executive in the usual fashion. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

placeholder image — Emma Little-Pengelly says the justice minister needs to bring her trans proposals to the Executive in the usual fashion. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

An anonymous source told the BBC that “the DUP aren't engaging” on Mrs Long’s plans and said the party “seem to once again be happy with a border in the Irish Sea when it comes to progress on social issues in Northern Ireland”.

But the deputy First Minister says it has “a bit of a hallmark of a manufactured issue” – and that her party would need to see any proposals before making their mind up.

Justice Minister Naomi Long has remained tight-lipped on whether she brought her specific proposals to the Executive.

The Department of Justice has not responded to questions from the News Letter about whether the proposals have been brought to the Executive for consideration.

The justice minister’s leaked letter said she wanted to “provide equality” by including the measure as part of her bill changing sentencing laws, the BBC reports.

Speaking to the Good Morning Ulster programme, Ms Little-Pengelly was asked by presenter Joel Taggart about claims the DUP was “stalling” the Alliance minister’s plans.

“The Justice Minister knows that the way to get the executive endorsement, or otherwise, for amendments, is to bring forward a paper to the executive. that's what she has been advised to do. When she brings those forward, of course, those will be considered in detail.

“That is the role of the executive. That's the role of me in that executive and of course, in these issues, we have to be very careful to make sure that whatever is being proposed does what it is intended to do”, the DUP minister said. She suggested that there could be wider implications for women’s rights issues, such as around the recent Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.

Alexa Moore from the Rainbow Project said the law would “protect everyone” – and if someone was “hate crimed” it wouldn’t necessarily matter if the person was trans or not, as the focus would be on the attacker’s motivation.