JK Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter literary saga, criticized a new Scottish law that criminalizes inciting hatred due to transgender identity – among other characteristics -, considering that it will be exploited by opportunists and can undermine women’s rights.
Rowling, who lives in Scotland, challenged the police on her X account to arrest her upon her return if her comments on the social network amount to a crime under the new legislation, which comes into force today.
The writer began her argument by making comments – on April Fool’s Day in the United Kingdom – about several well-known trans people, some of whom are criminals convicted of assaulting women, whom she called ‘men’ despite the fact that they say they identify with the female sex.
Rowling argued that, by passing the Hate Crime and Public Order Act in 2021, the Scottish Parliament “gave more value to the feelings of men who carry out their idea of femininity, even if misogynistic or opportunistic, than to the rights and freedoms for real women and girls.”
The writer also condemns, for example, the effect on statistics “if violent and sexual assaults committed by men are recorded as if they were female; the grotesque injustice of allowing men to compete in women’s sports; and the injustice of women’s jobs, decorations and opportunities being taken by men identified as trans,” in the face of “the reality and immutability of biological sex.”
“The redefinition of ‘woman’ to include any man who declares himself as such has already had serious consequences for the rights and safety of women and girls in Scotland, with the strongest impact being felt, as always, by those most vulnerable, such as women prisoners or rape survivors,” he wrote in X.
Police Scotland have also complained that they have not been given enough training on how to deal with new crimes.
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2024-04-09 10:27:18