DISINFO: Calling a transgender person by their biological identity leads to jail in Scotland
SUMMARY
[...] a person can be sentenced to up to 7 years in prison for simply stating that a transgender woman is not a woman, but still a biological man. Or that a black actor cannot play, for example, "Lancelot" or "King Arthur”.
There is no law forbidding common sense in any country in the world, but analogous laws may well emerge in countries characterized by a "liberal ideological dictatorship," primarily those of Anglo-Saxon descent.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about Western moral decay and the end of free speech and liberal dictatorship in Anglo-Saxon countries.
Hate speech has different definitions depending on the countries and institution that regulate the matter. These definitions are, however, very similar and do not cover the examples provided in this disinformation claim.
The main definitions are provided by the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), EU Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA; UN committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, The United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech.
They have in common three criteria:
1. It must be intentional 2. It must contain public incitement. 3. It must target a specific group
The Hate Crime and Public Order Act referenced in this article essentially takes the current law against the stirring up of racial hatred and extends that protection to other groups.
To be found guilty of a hate crime under the new law:
1. A person must engage in behaviour or communication that is perceived by a reasonable person to be threatening or abusive on the grounds of disability, religion, sexual orientation, age, transgender identity or variations in sex characteristics.
2. A person must intend to stir up hatred on the basis of these protected characteristics.
The new legislation, applicable in Scotland, does not qualify mis-gendering as an offence:
Adam Tomkins, professor of public law at Glasgow University
“The real confusion about this new law is caused really by the difference that which is threatening and abusive on one hand which may well be criminal and that which is merely offensive which is not criminal,” he told STV News.
“What the new law is sometimes accused of doing, but what the law does not at all, is that it criminalises offensive speech.
“If you are offended by what I say that is not a hate crime.
“If I misgender you, even if I do it deliberately that’s not a hate crime, because it’s neither threatening or abusive.
“It might be upsetting to you, you might be angry with me, but it’s not a criminal offence now and it won’t be a criminal offence after April 1 when this law comes into force because it doesn’t meet that all-important threshold of threatening or abusive.”
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