(LifeSiteNews) — Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling will not be arrested or charged under Scotland’s new hate speech law for “misgendering” gender-confused men. The best-selling author stressed that the ruling must be applied to all women, regardless of their status in society.
“I hope every woman in Scotland who wishes to speak up for the reality and importance of biological sex will be reassured by this announcement, and I trust that all women – irrespective of profile or financial means – will be treated equally under the law,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
I hope every woman in Scotland who wishes to speak up for the reality and importance of biological sex will be reassured by this announcement, and I trust that all women – irrespective of profile or financial means – will be treated equally under the law.https://t.co/CsgehF2a5d
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 2, 2024
The Scottish police had said that Rowling’s social media posts critical of transgender ideology would not be treated as criminal offenses, perhaps setting a positive precedent for the new vaguely-worded law.
The world-famous author had previously posted a series of statements about gender-confused men pretending to be women, saying that “the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them,” and dared the police to arrest her.
READ: JK Rowling dares Scottish police to arrest her over new ‘hate crime’ law threatening free speech
Critics of the law warned that acknowledging biological reality and “misgendering” individuals, as well as other expressions critical of current woke orthodoxy, could be seen as a “hate crime” under the new bill.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, passed in 2021 but only now taking effect, consolidates various preexisting “hate crime” statutes while also creating a new offense, “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred” on the basis of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, or variations in sex characteristics.
According to the BBC, speech offenses that “stir up hatred” carry a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
The BBC reported that within two days of the law taking effect, Scotland’s police had already received “more than 3,000 complaints” in relation to the new hate speech bill.
Every reported social media post now officially triggers a police investigation. Scottish political commentator Lois McLatchie Miller said that while Rowling is safe for today, “with each future post reported to the police, a new investigation will have to ensue.”
“JK Rowling established our Freedom of Tweet. The question now is whether this standard will hold for citizens with less international influence & attention,” McLatchie Miller wondered.
“Katie” Neeves, a gender-confused man who serves as the U.K. delegate for U.N. Women, said he was “very disappointed” with the Scottish police for not prosecuting Rowling.
Neeves was mentioned in Rowling’s series of social media posts. The author wrote:
Katie Neeves has been appointed as the UN Women UK delegate. She switched from straight man to lesbian at the age of 48 and, in a leaked 2022 webinar, described how she used to enjoy stealing and wearing her sister’s underwear. A truly relatable representative!
“JK Rowling is a bully and this act was designed to stop bullying, and if they’re not going to enforce it then that’s very disappointing,” Neeves said.
“She listed me and some other trans people along with some sex offenders and put it out to 14 million of her followers.”
“That was inciting hatred and it resulted in me receiving thousands of messages of hate. So it’s done what she set out for it to do,” the gender-confused man said.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commented on the controversy, saying that “We should not be criminalising people saying common sense things about biological sex, clearly that isn’t right. We have a proud tradition of free speech.”
However, Sunak would not say whether or not he supported Rowling’s approach and added that it was “not right for me to comment on police matters, individual matters.”
Police Scotland told the BBC that a significant portion of the complaints it received under the new hate speech law were against Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf, who championed the bill. The complaints concerned a speech by Yousaf in 2020, where he highlighted the fact that most people who hold powerful positions in Scotland were white. The police said that complaints were assessed and deemed to be non-criminal.
Yousaf, a self-described “proud Muslim,” is a staunch proponent of the complete decriminalizing of abortion and codifying LGBT “rights.”
READ: Scotland’s new first minister could eliminate abortion restrictions, codify ‘LGBT rights’