Scotland’s new hate crime laws will affect ordinary families like mine – but not in the way JK Rowling thinks

Today, Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order Bill finally comes into force.

Introduced following an independent review of existing hate crime laws, and originally passed in 2021 by a majority of 82 to 32, the bill updates and pulls together existing hate crime legislation protecting disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and intersex conditions, but also adds “age” and introduces a new crime of “stirring up hatred” against any of its protected groups – to me, that means my other half.

I’m a Scottish author and psychologist who happens to have a transgender spouse. And this new bill is just one of many pieces of civil rights legislation I’ve watched closely over the last few years. It is bold and it has attracted significant controversy – people like JK Rowling have been fiercely critical of it.

Reading the coverage, I do recognise many of the criticisms. The characteristic of “sex” is not included (unlike in the UK-wide Equality Act) – although the bill allows for this to be added later and, in the meantime, a new misogyny law is due to be introduced to the Scottish parliament this year. The bill also fails to protect “philosophical beliefs”, which under the Equality Act includes gender-critical beliefs.

Some people are concerned that overstretched police forces will be inundated with spurious allegations and it may take time for citizens and police to get to grips with the new law in practice. Those who are against it say they have significant concerns about the effects on free speech – and I get it. We all want to have a voice, share opinions, discuss, debate and be heard. Any notion of “censorship” can instinctively feel scary.

But speaking as a trans ally, my sense is that this legislation has drawn special controversy because it seeks legislative protections for a group of people (trans and non-binary folk) about whom society in general has not yet made up its mind.

In 2024, certain sections of the media, politicians and the public can still spend hours asking, “What is a woman?”, “What is transphobia?” and “Do trans people exist?”

And while it is true that we are still currently figuring stuff out – such as questions regarding legislation over legal gender recognition, trans healthcare and trans inclusion in gender-segregated sports – there’s one thing that deeply affects families like mine. As a result of discussion over the logistics, how trans people – like my spouse – should be treated sometimes appears up for debate, too.

I’ve seen how brutal the discourse can get – including and especially online (and not just around transgender issues, either). While happily chatting about books and writing on Twitter/X, I regularly hear ordinary people like my spouse being referred to in the most horrific ways.

I know how easy it is to get pulled into vicious, scathing rhetoric. I’ve felt that pull for myself when embroiled in one of “those” arguments online. But if we really do have valid points to make, valid questions to ask and valid issues to raise, surely it’s possible to voice those ideas without being “threatening” or “abusive”? Surely it is possible to disagree with others without “stirring up hate” towards those with whom we don’t see eye to eye?

Commentator after commentator has declared that we need to “take the heat out of the debate”. With this legislation, the Scottish government is making a bold statement and laying out an equally bold vision, making it clear what will and will not be tolerated in society.

As the policy memorandum sets out, the bill aims to create “a sense of belonging for all communities: a society in which the diversity of people’s backgrounds, beliefs and circumstances are appreciated and valued”.

That’s the sort of society I want my spouse to live in. It’s the kind of society I want to live in myself. Perhaps the bill only feels as bold or controversial as it does because hateful discourse has become so commonplace.

Scotland’s Hate Crime Bill might in some ways feel like a shock to the system. But perhaps it’s actually a much-needed wake-up call to us all.

Philippa East is a psychologist and author whose latest thriller, ‘A Guilty Secret’, is out now