Nicola Sturgeon has denied she is a “destroyer of women’s rights” after JK Rowling wore a T-shirt bearing the jibe.

The Harry Potter author, who has been outspoken in her views on gender issues, shared a photo of herself wearing the garment in support of a protest outside Holyrood on Thursday against the reform of the Gender Recognition Act.

The proposed legislation aims to amend a previous law to make it easier for transgender people to be legally recognised as their chosen gender and get a new birth certificate.

They will no longer need to provide medical reports or evidence, and the minimum age of applicants for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) will be cut from 18 to 16.

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Ms Sturgeon described herself as a “real” and “passionate” feminist she defended the bill on Friday morning.

“I’ve spent my entire life campaigning for women’s rights and I’m a passionate feminist with lots of evidence behind that”, she told BBC’s Today programme.

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The first minister said Ms Rowling was entitled to her views but that predatory men “are the risk to women, not trans women”.

She said the bill is about “reforming an existing process” and “doesn’t give any more rights to trans people and it doesn’t take any rights away from women”.

“Any man who seeks to abuse any process to attack women, we should deal with that, we shouldn’t stigmatise further an already stigmatised group of people,” she said.

“This is a statutory process, there are criminal implications for anybody who abuses that – it is not a process without significant conditions attached to it.”

The bill will stop the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as well as reduce the time a person would be required to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months – though there would be a three-month “reflection period”.

A majority of MSPs on a parliamentary committee voiced their support for the reforms in a report released on Thursday, with the first vote on the legislation due for the end of this week.

Ms Sturgeon, speaking ahead of the SNP conference in Aberdeen tomorrow, said the current process is “stigmatising, it’s traumatic, it’s asking people to effectively prove they are mentally unwell”, adding that anyone caught abusing the process outlined in the new bill will be committing “a criminal offence”.

She went on: “There are many, many real threats out there to women right now, from attacks – physical attacks, attacks of sexual violence to the removal of abortion and reproductive rights – women in countries like Iran are going through.

“There are no shortage of attacks on women that feminists, real feminists, as I consider myself to be, should be focusing on right now.”

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Ms Rowling showed her support on Twitter for the more-than 100 strong protest outside Holyrood yesterday, which featured speakers including former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.

Alongside the photo, she wrote: “I stand in solidarity with @ForWomenScot and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish Parliament. #NoToSelfID.”

Rowling has been criticised by some over her views on women’s rights and trans people but strongly denies being transphobic.

In January, police said they wouldn’t charge trans activists who tweeted photos showing her address – so-called “doxing”.

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