ROWLING: HATE LAW LUDICROUS
Potter author won’t delete gender row posts
JK ROWLING has said she will not delete social media posts which could breach “ludicrous” hate crime laws.
The Harry Potter author, 58, slammed the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, coming into effect on April 1.
It comes after she was embroiled in a gender row with transgender broadcaster India Willoughby.
The controversial legislation will make it an offence to stir up hatred against protected characteristics, including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity.
However, concerns have been raised over the potential criminalisation of freedom of expression.
Police in Northumbria have cleared Rowling of criminality after she stated: “India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.”
And writing on X, the author responded to messages she should delete the comments prior to the law coming into effect. She said: “If you genuinely imagine I’d delete posts calling a man a man, so as not to be prosecuted under this ludicrous law, stand by for the mother of all April Fools’ jokes.”
Earlier this month, Northumbria Police said: “On Monday, March 4, we received a complaint about a post on social media.
“While we recognise the upset this may have caused, the post was reviewed and did not meet the criminal threshold.”
Willoughby said the author had “definitely committed a crime”. She added: “I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman and she calls me a man. It’s a protected characteristic.”
Willougby also took to social media after the police ruling to state she had received an “avalanche of hate and abuse, including death threats”.
Rowling, a fierce critic of the Scottish Government’s gender reform plans, said she had also received a significant amount of “murder and torture” threats.