Best-selling Harry Potter author JK Rowling dared police in her home country of Scotland to arrest her on Monday as the country’s controversial hate speech law takes effect, highlighting the government’s threat to “freedom of speech and belief.”
Under Scotland’s new Hate Crime and Public Order, stirring up “hatred” with threatening or abusive behavior based on characteristics including age, religion, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender status is punishable by up to seven years in prison. Racial hatred has been banned in Scotland since 1986, and while the Act does not ban hatred against women, anti-misogyny laws are forthcoming.
“We know that the impact on those on the receiving end of physical, verbal or online attacks can be traumatic and life-changing,” said Scottish Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown. “This legislation is an essential element of our wider approach to tackling that harm.”
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Lawmakers in Edinburgh insist that the law includes sufficient free speech protections—including the right to “ridicule or insult” religion. Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf claimed that “the threshold of criminality in terms of the new offenses is very, very high indeed.”
“Your behavior has to be threatening or abusive and intended to stir up hatred,” he argued.
"Unless your behaviour is threatening, or abusive, and intends to stir up hatred, then you have nothing to worry about."
First Minister @HumzaYousaf defends Scotland's new hate crime law after concerns it infringes free speechhttps://t.co/AuNWQ6qZmX
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/vfapoPaGyC
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 1, 2024
Yousaf has himself been accused of a form of “hate speech” in recent years after complaining about the number of White people in the Scottish government.
However, the Hate Crime Act’s critics argue that it is overly broad and gives preferential treatment to certain groups. Foremost among these critics is JK Rowling, a noted anti-trans feminist who called the law “ludicrous” and warned that it will silence “gender-critical” discussions.
As the law took effect on Monday, Rowling posted a lengthy X thread listing biologically male sex offenders (most of whom preyed on women and young girls) that now claim to be women. Without violating the act’s prohibitions against “misgendering,” the author described the consequences that the law will likely have on women who fall victim to sex crimes.
“Scotland’s Hate Crime Act comes into effect today,” she began. “Women gain no additional protections, of course, but well-known trans activist Beth Douglas, darling of prominent Scottish politicians, falls within a protected category. Phew!”
She accompanied this with photos of Douglas holding knives and axes and posting threats against “anti-trans” companies.
Scotland's Hate Crime Act comes into effect today. Women gain no additional protections, of course, but well-known trans activist Beth Douglas, darling of prominent Scottish politicians, falls within a protected category. Phew! 1/11 pic.twitter.com/gCKGwdjr5m
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 1, 2024
Related: JK Rowling Reported to UK Police for Transphobia, Keeps Trolling Anyway
Other entries on Rowling’s list included “lovely Scottish lass and convicted double rapist Isla Bryson,” who transitioned just before sentencing, “fragile flower Katie Dolatowski,” who raped a 10-year-old girl in a public bathroom, and “Samamtha Norris, [who] was cleared of exposing her penis to two 11-year-old girls,” along with several others.
“Only kidding. Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them,” she wrote in her final post. “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.”
“I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offense under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment,” Rowling concluded.
🎉🌼🌸April Fools! 🌸🌼🎉
Only kidding. Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren't women at all, but men, every last one of them.
In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their…
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 1, 2024
Shortly after Rowling uploaded her posts, Brown told The Telegraph that the author’s remarks may indeed be reported to law enforcement.
“Whether or not the police would think it was criminal is up to Police Scotland for that,” she said.
According to The Scotsman, Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell had previously promised that the force would apply the act “in a measured way” with “close scrutiny of how the legislation is being enforced as well as what reports are being received.”
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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