HUMZA Yousaf has confirmed transgender women will be protected under any new misogyny laws in Scotland.
The First Minister said “anyone affected” by misogyny would be covered no matter their biological sex.
The Scottish government wants to introduce a bill to tackle misogyny before the end of the current parliamentary term in 2026.
He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Women and girls will be protected, and trans women will be protected as well, as they will often be the ones who suffer threats of rape or threats of disfigurement for example.
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"When a trans woman is walking down the street and a threat of rape is made against them, the man making the threat doesn’t know if they are a trans woman or a cis woman. They will make that threat because the perception of that person [is] as a woman."
The First Minister added that the bill would be proceeding with "urgency and pace", due to the number of women who have "raised concerns" over sex not being covered within the recent Hate Crime Act.
He added that the Scottish Government would not spend an “inordinate” amount of time deciding whether to follow the recommendations of the Cass Review into gender care.
The review, led by consultant paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, looked into the provision of gender identity services for children and young people within the NHS in England.
In her final report, Cass made a series of recommendations, including advising “extreme caution” in prescribing puberty blockers and hormones to under-18s due to a lack of “high quality” research into their long-term effects.
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The First Minister said it was wise to “take time over” the findings of the 400-page report and insisted decisions on next steps were a matter for clinicians to decide.
He added that “all recommendations” within the report would be considered, including a ban on children’s puberty blockers and that there “wasn’t a case” to close the Sandyford centre in Glasgow, which provides these services as well as other sexual health services.
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