JK Rowling and Elon Musk ridicule SNP over list of 24 genders

JK Rowling and Elon Musk have mocked the SNP after it released an official list of 24 different genders.

The Harry Potter author said that the 'Scottish endarkenment gathers pace' after the list revealing the 24 different genders that Scottish people could be categorised as in official statistics.

The 59-year-old went on to question whether the 'astro identities' of people whose star sign 'doesn't match the sign they were assigned at birth' would be formally recognised next.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, responded to Rowling's criticism of the list with a 'nuts' emoji on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.  

One of the 24 genders listed in the SNP's official guidelines, issued last week by the Scottish Government's chief statistician, lists identities such as 'pangender', meaning a person identifies as having 'all possible genders at once'.

Another one of the genders listed is 'agender', referring to a person who 'does not identify as having a gender'. 

Some LGBTQ activists believe gender identity is a 'spectrum' and that people can identify with a gender that is different from the the one they were assigned at birth.

But gender critical activists, such as JK Rowling and Elon Musk, strongly disagree with this idea and believe that humans can only be male or female.

Scotland's First Minister, John Swinney, has previously said that he believes male and female are the only two genders but the list of two dozen genders was produced and released by his own administration.

When he was asked about this contradiction, Mr Swinney said he still holds the belief that there are only two genders but that it would be 'wrong' for him to interfere with decisions made by the chief statistician.

Senior Scottish Tory MSP, Murdo Fraser, questioned whether Mr Swinney was in charge of his government after it contradicted his own views on gender identity.

Mr Fraser said: 'John Swinney states there are only two genders, but his government claims 24. What a complete shambles, but exactly what we have come to expect from this failing SNP administration.'

During a BBC pre-election radio show in July, Mr Swinney attempted to avoid saying how many genders he thought there were, claiming it was a matter for 'debate'.

He eventually admitted that he believed male and female are the only two genders, when pushed for a response but he said that others may have a different view.

Since taking office, Mr Swinney has tried to dodge any more new controversies over transgender rights and gender identity following concerns within the SNP that its stance has deterred voters.