AN SNP women's representative who compared a transgender woman to serial killer Ed Kemper, and called trans activism an "evil cult" has been reported to party bosses.

Marjory Smith, who is the SNP Nairnshire branch's women's officer has been reported to SNP headquarters for several remarks she made last week, which have been described as transphobic and hateful by party colleagues.

The Herald on Sunday also uncovered posts on Smith's social media where she describes someone identifying as female as a "mental f***ing pervy git" and referred to trans women as "things".

She commented that trans activists were "possessed by an evil dangerous cult", and wrote that a trans woman looked like the infamous 6ft 9 American serial killer and necrophiliac Edmund Kemper.

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Emma Roddick, who is standing to be an SNP councillor for Inverness Central, received messages from Smith asking her to sign a women's pledge, which she declined claiming it has transphobic undertones.

A number of other SNP members have declined to sign the pledge, which was launched at the party conference earlier this month, for similar reasons.

In response to Roddick, Smith wrote: "You may believe trans women are women, that is a belief system, but for great many people they are men and always will be.

"They are and will always be nothing but men."

She later compared those who support transgender equality to Jehovah's Witnesses, saying: "You cannot compel belief from others, as for trying to put it into law that is totalitarian and fascist. At least the Jehovah's Witnesses just go away when you won't take a leaflet".

Roddick told the Herald on Sunday: "It is really worrying that this debate has been allowed to get to the point where a women's officer within the SNP feels they are able to say things like this, from their position as a women's officer.

"If we had nipped this in the bud earlier, and highlighted that messages like this were against our code of conduct, instead of hoping it would all go away, we wouldn't have got to his point of escalation.

"The first message she sent me was asking me to sign the pledge, and made out that this about this isn't about trans people, its about women. Clearly from how she responded when I declined to sign it, it very much is coming from a place of transphobia.

"A lot of women are being drawn in by these messages, and the idea of the women's pledge, which on the face of it to someone not familiar with the wider debate is going to seem reasonable and sensible.

"These comments are showing that we (the SNP) haven't, since April when this all really kicked off...we haven't got on top of the nastier side of things. It shouldn't be this extreme.

"The types of things that senior SNP figures have been saying in public too, in the media, are not on, and the party should have been on top of that. If this were any other issue, where people were disagreeing publicly with policy you'd be looking at taking action. This is attacking other party members and seems to be okay.

"The leadership are saying this behaviour and these types of comments are okay, by doing nothing."

Roddick reported the messages she received to the SNP's National Secretary Angus MacLeod, but said she has had no response.

SNP sources told the Herald on Sunday the comments are just one example of the transphobia which has allowed to proliferate throughout the party in the wake of the fierce debate around the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) reforms.

In June, the Scottish government delayed plans to change the legal rights of trans men and women to allow them to get a new gender recognition certificate through self-identification, instead of requiring medical evidence.

A second consultation on the issue is now underway.

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Emma Cuthbertson, an SNP women's officer who is transgender has received threats and abuse by party members and others on social media, and received a private security briefing ahead of the SNP conference due to concerns she may be at risk.

She said: "I’ve been subject to abuse and people openly sharing which branch I attend in an attempt to intimidate me.

"The SNP have done great work on LGBT equality in the past, and I want them to continue that work by reforming the Gender Recognition Act and improving the lives of trans people in Scotland.

"To do that, we need to be able to have conversations with each other and for the party to take action to stop the toxicity of this ‘debate’."

Marjory Smith said she was not transphobic when contacted by the Herald on Sunday, and said the term was being used as "a device to try to silence women in a debate which needs to be had regarding women's hard won rights and protections and those of children."

She added: "I am not 'transphobic', I would describe myself as a transgender ideology heretic. I, like very many other people, do not believe that men are or can become women, or that children are 'in the wrong bodies'.

"I was asked by women members of the SNP to put myself forward for the position of women's officer precisely because of my gender critical views which men in the branch also agree with."

The SNP did not comment when contacted.