J.K Rowling (Image: AFP via Getty Images) Get the latest Scottish crime and courts news sent straight to your inbox with our daily Criminal Record newsletter More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Get the latest Scottish crime and courts news sent straight to your inbox with our daily Criminal Record newsletter Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice JK Rowling has launched a blistering attack on new hate crime laws which came into force across
Scotland today. The billionaire author - a frequent critic of the Scottish Government's stance on transgender rights - warned the legislation was "wide open to abuse". In a series of messages shared with her 14 million followers on
Social Media, Rowling said: "Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal. "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." The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act consolidates existing hate crime legislation and creating a new offence of stirring up hatred against protected characteristics. But critics have slammed SNP ministers for including
Women have not been given protection under the law. The Scottish Government is instead promising to bring forward separate legislation to tackle misogyny. Read More Related Articles SNP Cabinet Secretary calls for "reset" on welfare with a new
Labour government Read More Related Articles Rishi Sunak's Tories facing Scottish wipeout in Westminster poll prediction Humza Yousaf today insisted he was “very proud” of the new laws, saying they will help protect against a “rising tide” of hatred. The First Minister also insisted he is “very confident in
police Scotland’s ability in order to implement this legislation in the way it should”. Speaking about the new legislation, the First Minister added: “Let’s remember of course that when it comes to stirring up offences of racial hatred, stirring up offences have existed since 1986, being policed with virtually no controversy whatsoever.” Rowling posted a thread on X, formerly Twitter, which listed a series of high-profile criminal cases involving trans women, among other examples. She added: "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. "The new legislation is wide open to abuse by activists who wish to silence those of us speaking out about the dangers of eliminating women's and girls’ single-sex spaces, the nonsense made of crime data if violent and sexual assaults committed by men are recorded as female crimes, the grotesque unfairness of allowing males to compete in female sports, the injustice of women’s jobs, honours and opportunities being taken by trans-identified men, and the reality and immutability of biological sex.” Her post ended with the hashtags #ArrestMe #AprilFools #HateCrimeActScotland. Scottish politics Health boards blow millions on taxis Labour conference braced for
protests SNP lost thousands of members in 2023 Matheson urged to reject pay-out The First Minister has repeatedly claimed “disinformation” about the legislation is being spread, insisting it includes a “triple lock” of protection for speech. This includes an explicit clause, a defence for the accused’s behaviour being “reasonable” and the fact that the Act is compatible with the European Convention on
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