Nicola Sturgeon has denied that she spent too much political capital on efforts to make it easier for people to change their legally recognised sex.
The former first minister, who is stepping down from Holyrood this week after 27 years as an MSP, reflected on the heated debate about gender reforms during a wide-ranging interview with BBC Scotland News.
She described any suggestion that she had become "obsessed" with the issue as "nonsense", while reaffirming her support for the trans community.
Sturgeon also said she was "contented" and "at peace" with her decision to quit politics.
The ex-SNP leader resigned as first minister in March 2023 after eight years in the role - longer than anyone else in the history of the devolved parliament.
Now one of the last remaining cohort of MSPs who have been in the parliament since 1999, she has decided not to seek re-election on 7 May.
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Latterly, her government was embroiled in a heated debate about its plans for gender recognition reforms, which were ultimately shelved after being challenged in the courts by the UK government.
Shortly after the reforms were passed, double rapist Isla Bryson - who changed gender after being arrested for attacking two women - was remanded to a women's jail.
Bryson was subsequently moved to a male prison after the case sparked widespread anger.
Sturgeon told BBC Scotland News: "This idea that I became obsessed [with gender recognition reform] to the exclusion of everything else is just a nonsense thing that some of my opponents say."
'I will go to my grave a feminist'
The former SNP leader said: "I have been a feminist for as long as I can remember. I will go to my grave a feminist.
"The risks and the dangers to women come from abusive men and actually lawmakers in parts of the world right now who are trying to take away women's rights.
"But I also don't believe that is inconsistent with standing up for one of the most stigmatised minorities in the country, and that is trans people."
Sturgeon said she would not answer whether she believed Bryson was a man, describing the criminal only as a rapist – because she did not want to contribute to the "demonisation of trans people".
Nicola Sturgeon's journey through her life in politicsBy the time she stepped down as first minister, Sturgeon had led the party to successive electoral victories at Holyrood and Westminster.
However, her arguments for a second referendum had been rejected by Downing Street and the Supreme Court, to the frustration of many within the independence movement.
Sturgeon said becoming Scotland's first female first minister in 2014 was the highlight of her parliamentary career, describing it as "an honour, a privilege that will always be, for as long as I live, very special to me".
She also said she was proud of introducing the Scottish Child Payment and her work with people in the care system.
Low points came during the defeat in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, as well as her personal and political rupture with her former mentor Alex Salmond, who died in October 2024.
The most challenging period of her career came during the Covid pandemic, according to Sturgeon but she insisted: "I did my best every day".
In a report published last year the UK Covid Inquiry praised the former first minister as a "serious and diligent leader", but said she "often excluded" some government ministers and advisers from key discussions.
PA MediaNicola Sturgeon led Scotland during the Covid-19 pandemic During her time in office Sturgeon supported a presumption against new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
She told the BBC the remaining reserves off Scotland's coast were not the answer to the current crisis amid the US-Israel war against Iran.
"I think we need to accelerate the transition towards renewable energy and there are much bigger, more profound challenges resulting from Trump's very rash and reckless and dangerous actions in the Middle East," she said.
Looking ahead to a life without politics for the first time in decades, the ex-SNP leader said she was "at peace" with her decision.
Having already published a memoir, she is now pursuing a "passion project" - writing a political thriller.
Sturgeon added: "I've had the most incredible career in this building and in politics generally but it's time for me to move into a new chapter in my life and I'm really looking forward to that."
