J.K. Rowling could be arrested in Scotland for deliberately misgendering transgender people under a new hate crime law, a politician warns.
On April 1, the day Scotland implemented a new law to tackle hate crime, the Harry Potter author tweeted, “In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls.” She added, “I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”
In response to her latest comments (which is part of an exhausting 11 tweet thread), Scottish National Party’s community safety minister Siobhian Brown warned the Telegraph that Rowling could be in legal trouble. Her “completely deranged” posts where she misgenders trans women “could be reported and it could be investigated,” Brown said. “Whether or not the police would think it was criminal is up to Police Scotland for that.”
The law creates a criminal offense of “stirring up of hatred”, expanding on a similar offence based on racist abuse that has been on the statute book for decades. The new legislation covers hatred on the basis of age, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Someone convicted of stirring up hate could face a fine and a prison term of up to seven years.
It will be tough to make a case against Rowling, however.
As the Telegraph notes, women were omitted from “the list of protected groups included in the legislation,” which means that “threats made against Rowling and other feminists critical of trans ideology could not be investigated under the Bill.” Rowling is daring the authorities to “#ArrestMe” because she knows it likely won’t happen.
(Via the Telegraph)