Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is looking “forward to being arrested” for speaking out against a controversial new hate crime law that protects the transgender community.
Rowling, a resident of Scotland, issued a lengthy rebuke to the Scottish National Party government’s new Hate Crime and Public Order Act, which went into effect on Monday.
The new law criminalizes “threatening or abusive behavior which is intended to stir up hatred” based on age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
But according to Rowling, “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.”
Lovely Scottish lass and convicted double rapist Isla Bryson found her true authentic female self shortly before she was due to be sentenced. Misgendering is hate, so respect Isla’s pronouns, please. Love the leggings! 2/11 pic.twitter.com/aKgOWRdb4K
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 1, 2024
First Minister Humza Yousaf disagreed and claimed that the law’s “threshold of criminality in terms of the new offenses is very, very high indeed.
“Your behavior has to be threatening or abusive and intended to stir up hatred,” he insisted.
However, Rowling, who has been threatened with arrest by transgender activists for her very public views about the definition of a woman, has a different opinion on the controversial legislation.
She said that by passing the act, “lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls.”
Rowling noted that the new law is “wide open to abuse by activists” that want silence people who speak out about the dangers of eliminating single-sex spaces, the “grotesque unfairness” of allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, and “he reality and immutability of biological sex.”
She stated that Scottish women have been pressured by the government to deny “biological facts and embrace a neo-religious concept of gender that is unprovable and untestable.”
Samantha Norris was cleared of exposing her penis to two 11-year-old girls. Hooray! Unfortunately she was then convicted for possession of 16,000 images of children being raped and sexually assaulted. Be that as it may, Sam’s still a lady to me! 4/11 pic.twitter.com/GG2kLql3Ea
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 1, 2024
Rowling noted that the “redefinition of ‘woman’ to include every man who declares himself one” has already harmed women’s rights, and most negatively impacted rape victims and female inmates.
“It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls,” the Harry Potter creator posted.
“Or address the current assault on women’s and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man.”
The author illustrated the point by sharing a series of tweets that highlighted transgender women who have committed crimes, participated on women’s sports teams, or taken positions and accolades carved out for biological women.
Rowling shared side-by-side before and after photos of a tattooed skinhead and the same person in a blonde wig and wearing leggings with a visible crotch bulge.
“Lovely Scottish lass and convicted double rapist Isla Bryson found her true authentic female self shortly before she was due to be sentenced,” she posted.
“Misgendering is hate, so respect Isla’s pronouns, please. Love the leggings!”
“Samantha Norris was cleared of exposing her penis to two 11-year-old girls. Hooray!” Rowling captioned a mugshot.
“Unfortunately she was then convicted for possession of 16,000 images of children being raped and sexually assaulted. Be that as it may, Sam’s still a lady to me!”
She also added a photo of a female soccer player facing off with balding man on the pitch to clarify that all transgender women aren’t sex offenders.
But most women aren’t axe-toters or sex offenders, so let’s talk role models! Guilia Valentino (in red) wanted to play on the women's team 'because of sisterhood, validation and political visibility'. Naturally, she was given some boring cis girl’s place. Yay for inclusion! 6/11 pic.twitter.com/zl5i41RqBG
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 1, 2024
She noted that Guilia Valentino, pictured above in red and black, wanted to play with women “because of sisterhood, validation and political visibility.”
“Naturally, she was given some boring cis girl’s place,” Rowling wrote. “Yay for inclusion!”
She pointed out that Mridul Wadhwa was hired as the head of a rape crisis center despite the position being advertised as for women only.
Rowling also shared a photo of Munroe Bergdorf, a transgender woman who was appointed as the UN Women’s first United Kingdom champion.
“‘What makes a woman “a woman” has no definitive answer,’ says Munroe,” the writer quoted. “Great choice, UN Women!”
After sharing ten posts about transgender women protected under the new law, Rowling said that the tweets were an April Fools joke and she was “only kidding.”
Munroe Bergdorf isn’t just a pretty face! Public campaigner for a children’s charity until safeguarding concerns were raised, she was appointed UN Women’s first ever UK champion. ‘What makes a woman “a woman” has no definitive answer,’ says Munroe. Great choice, UN Women! 8/11 pic.twitter.com/za6GG5q2Oo
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 1, 2024
“Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them,” she fanned the fire.
Then she challenged Scottish law enforcement to come and get her for breaking the law.
“I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offense under the terms of the new act,” Rowling concluded.
“I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”