[13] The Scottish Government responded to Alsalem by issuing a detailed rebuttal, stating that the arguments against the bill lacked concrete evidence and were not supported by real-world examples.
They emphasized that other countries with similar self-identification laws had not seen the predicted negative impacts and noted strong support from several women's rights groups in Scotland.
[19][17] Alsalem asks why is it "problematic" for people to say: "This is important; many of our needs emanate from being female, or male, and there are certain instances where it’s proportionate, legitimate and perfectly necessary to keep a space single sex".
"[22][23] In 2024 Alsalem released a report that called for "sex screening" in sport to allegedly protect a "female-only category" and exclude those not born female,[24][25] and that said women are "entitled to single-sex spaces.
"[27] In 2024 Alsalem addressed a panel organized by Alliance Defending Freedom, an SPLC-designated anti-LGBT hate group, that called for "female-only" sports and the exclusion of transgender women.
[4] In response, Alsalem said she had condemned "what happened on 7 October", had contacted NGOs in Israel without reply, and said she could not make "sweeping statements" without receiving evidence.
[33] Author Helen Joyce supported Alsalem, emphasising from her letter "the short time-frame given for comments, the unbalanced group developing the guidelines and the uncritical endorsement of gender self-ID".
She said: "Entrenched patriarchy at almost every level of society, combined with a rise in misogyny that permeates the physical and online world, is denying thousands of women and girls across the UK the right to live in safety, free from fear and violence".
The signatories to the warning included special reporteurs Paula Gaviria Betancur, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Mary Lawlor, Margaret Satterthwaite and Francesca Albanese.