JK Rowling vows to defy ‘ludicrous’ new hate crime laws

JK Rowling has vowed to continue “calling a man a man” in defiance of controversial new SNP hate crime laws.

The Harry Potter author said she would not delete her social media posts, in which she has regularly argued that trans women are not women, to avoid being taken to court “under this ludicrous law”.

She said she would instead “do some more accurate sexing” after the legislation takes effect at the start of next month, despite predictions that LGBT campaigners plan to use it to target her. Rowling lives in Edinburgh.

Humza Yousaf oversaw the passage of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act at Holyrood in 2021, when he was justice secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s government.

It will come into force on April 1 after Police Scotland said it needed time for “training, guidance and communications planning”.

The legislation 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.

Offences are considered “aggravated”, meaning they could lead to stiffer sentences, if they involve prejudice on the basis of age, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

‘Chilling’ effect on freedom of speech

But concerns have 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.

Joanna Cherry KC, an SNP MP and feminist who has been highly critical of the Scottish Government’s gender policies, has said she had “no doubt” that the new laws “will be weaponised against women exercising their right to freedom of speech”.

She has also suggested that trans campaigners will target Rowling. Although she did not mention the author by name, the MP said: “A cursory look at social media shows some of these activists already have one high-profile woman in their sights.”

Activists have already unsuccessfully attempted to have the author arrested for “misgendering” after she publicly called India Willoughby, a transgender TV personality, a male.

Rajan Barot, a former fraud prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, warned Rowling on social media on Sunday about the new legislation’s start date and that “any posts up after that are amenable to prosecution in Scotland”.

He tweeted: “You are best advised to delete the posts about India Willoughby as they most likely contravene the new law. Start deleting!”

She responded:

Michael Foran, a Glasgow university lecturer and author specialising in gender law, accused Mr Barot of not knowing “the first thing about the presumption against retroactive criminal prosecutions”.

Rowling said: “Guess I’ll just have to do some more accurate sexing post-April 1st and we’ll see whether my previous offences are taken into account.”

Mr Barot said: “Every day after April 1 that offending posts remain are new offences i.e. a continuing offence. That is why JK Rowling is best advised to review and delete any offending posts.”

On Monday morning, Willoughby tweeted:

A later post read: “Apart from the avalanche of hate and abuse, once again there have been death threats. This has gone way beyond what any reasonable person should be expected to put up with. I don’t feel safe.”

Mr Barot encouraged Willoughby to continue making reports about the author to the police, saying it “becomes more and more difficult” for them to “bury their head in the sand if they are constantly confronted with evidence of crimes against you”.

Rowling later tweeted: “Let’s compare what each of us has got over the past five years, India Willoughby, and see who’s had the greatest number of threats of murder, torture, burning, skinning, rape (in every possible mutation) and assault (again, in every possible variation) from the other’s allies.”

Northumbria Police dismissed a complaint by the TV personality, saying it did not believe that Rowling had committed a criminal offence. However, Willoughby’s supporters claimed to have submitted another complaint to Police Scotland.

Rowling has regularly denied being transphobic, saying she believes people should be able to live their lives as they please.

She has, however, voiced concerns that accepting that trans women are literally women, as trans activists claim, and giving them access to female-only spaces, poses risks to the rights and safety of biological women.