Short memory

Tim Hopkins, formerly of the Equality Network, appears to have a remarkably short memory. In his letter of 4 April, he chastises JK Rowling for tweets which seemed “designed to offend” and “provoke anger and upset”, yet, were he to cast his mind back to March 2021, he might understand why Ms Rowling felt the need to test the limits of the new Hate Crime legislation and his own role in making this a necessity.

At Stage 3 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, Johann Lamont lodged amendments designed to protect freedom of expression. Amendment 11B expressly dealt with ensuring it would be safe to express innocuous views like “sex is a physical, binary characteristic that cannot be changed” and “a person’s sex may be relevant to their experience”. The response from Equality Network was brutal.

In a briefing urging MSPS to reject this, they claimed that providing this protection would “fundamentally undermine trans people’s long established Convention right to be legally recognised in their transitioned gender” and lead to “open season” on trans people. This contributed to the ongoing confusion and anxiety about what can safely be said here, deliberately engineered by groups like Equality Network, who have encouraged people to report stickers with dictionary definitions as hate crimes.

Had the Scottish Government made it explicit either in the Act or in guidance (promised discussions on which with ourselves and others were pulled, to avoid upsetting activists like Mr Hopkins), no one, including Ms Rowling, would have felt the need to establish now whether naming the reality of sex was likely to trigger a police investigation. That she was compelled to take this step was largely due to the past actions of organisations like Equality Network and their attempts to shut the door on debate.

Susan Smith Director, For Women Scotland, Edinburgh