it would not be a crime to express the opinion that sex is immutable unless it was accompanied by behaviour that was intended to stir up hatred, which could include aggressive campaigning.
The hate crime bill will criminalise threatening and abusive comments intended to stir up hatred against minorities. It has provoked a backlash from actors including Rowan Atkinson and Elaine C Smith, the authors Chris Brookmyre and Val McDermid and the Scottish Newspaper Society, who fear it will have a “chilling effect” on public debate about divisive social issues.
Lucy Hunter Blackburn, founder of the women’s rights activists Murray Blackburn Mckenzie, raised concerns last week that anyone who describes a woman as an “adult human female” would face a police investigation…..
Mr Yousaf confirmed that a campaign promoting the view that sex was immutable would be prosecuted if it was deemed deliberately provocative.
And who gets to decide what's "deliberately provocative"?
Biology teachers will be treading on thin ice, then. Will they be prosecuted for saying that sex is immutable and that men can't just become women, in accordance with, um, biological facts?
Interesting times north of the border…
Leave a Reply