Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 14:45 pm
A new hate speech law that went into effect in Scotland on Monday could prompt investigations into those, such as author J.K. Rowling, who refer to transgender individuals by their biological sex rather than their self-proclaimed gender identity, a Scottish minister said.
Under the new law, which went into effect on April 1, a person will face up to seven years in prison for stirring up hatred against a person based on his or her “transgender identity.” The law expanded existing hate speech laws that already banned people from stirring up hatred based on a person’s race.
The law does not explicitly prohibit so-called “misgendering,” which is when someone refers to a transgender person by his or her biological sex rather than his or her self-proclaimed gender identity.
However, Scottish Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown in an interview with BBC Radio 4 Today, according to the Telegraph, said that police would have the discretion about whether to investigate those types of comments and whether specifically to investigate Rowling, who has been an outspoken critic of gender ideology.