Police could investigate JK Rowling ‘for misgendering trans people,’ says SNP minister

Author has faced calls to be prosecuted under Scotland’s new hate crime law

By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor

The Telegraph

1 April 2024

JK Rowling could be investigated by police for misgendering trans people under Scotland’s new hate crime legislation, an SNP minister has admitted.

Siobhian Brown, the SNP’s community safety minister, initially stated that misgendering – for example calling a trans woman “he” – would “not at all” fall foul of the legislation.

But after being challenged over calls for JK Rowling to be prosecuted under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, she then admitted it would be for the police to decide.

Speaking as the Act came into force on Monday, Ms Brown said: “It could be reported and it could be investigated. Whether or not the police would think it was criminal is up to Police Scotland for that.”

The minister was also challenged over the “odd” omission of women from the list of protected groups included in the legislation.

This means that threats made against Rowling and other feminists critical of trans ideology could not be investigated under the Bill. Ms Brown admitted “more work needs to be done” and said a misogyny Bill would be introduced.

Humza Yousaf oversaw the passage of the hate crime legislation at Holyrood in 2021, when he was justice secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s government but it has only now come into force as Police Scotland said it needed time for training.

The law creates a criminal offence 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 cover hatred on the basis of age, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

However, an amendment to add sex to the list of protected characteristics at this stage was voted down, despite cross-party MSPs raising concerns about why women were excluded.

‘Chilling’ effect Concerns have also been expressed that the legislation’s definition of a hate crime is too ambiguous, potentially leading to a “chilling” effect on freedom of speech and a torrent of vexatious complaints being made to police.

In particular, Rowling’s allies have suggested that trans activists have her “in their sights”. The author has regularly argued that trans women are not women and last week vowed to continue “calling a man a man” after this “ludicrous law” comes into force.

The Telegraph has also disclosed that attendees at an official Police Scotland hate crime event in February were presented with a scenario involving a character called Jo who thinks that sex is binary and bizarrely calls for transgender people to be sent to gas chambers.

Feminist groups claimed the character was a thinly veiled parody of Rowling, whose first name is Joanne and who is called Jo by friends.

Pressed by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether misgendering was a crime, Ms Brown said no, adding: “We respect everybody’s freedom for expression and nobody in our society should live in fear or be made to feel like they don’t belong.”

However, challenged over a claim by an SNP councillor that Rowling is “not entitled to make people feel uncomfortable and to misgender someone”, she then admitted that it “would be a police matter for them to assess what happens”.

Ms Brown said it would be “an operational decision” and “it would not be for me as a minister to dictate what the police” did.

She said officers had received a “lot of training in the last year”, including a two-hour online course, and she believed this gave them the criteria on which to base their decision.

“There’s a very high threshold, which is in the Act, which would be up to Police Scotland, and what would have to be said online or in person would be threatening and abusive,” she said.

“If you’re conveying a personal opinion that is challenging or offensive, for example, that would not be – I would say – would not be [illegal].”