The “Harry Potter” author slammed a newly enacted hate-crime law in Scotland in a series of posts on X  in which she referred to transgender women as men.

J.K. Rowling shared a social media thread on Monday, the day a new Scottish hate-crime law took effect, that misgendered several transgender women and appeared to imply trans women have a penchant for sexual predation. On Tuesday, Scottish police announced they would not be investigating the “Harry Potter” author’s remarks as a crime, as some of Rowling’s critics had called for.

“We have received complaints in relation to the social media post,” a spokesperson for Police Scotland said in a statement. “The comments are not assessed to be criminal and no further action will be taken.”

Scotland’s new Hate Crime and Public Order Act criminalizes “stirring up hatred” against people based on their race, religion, disability, sexuality or gender identity.

  • coffee_with_cream
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    6 months ago

    True! But: is an opinion a crime? Who decides which opinions are crimes? If we are generally anti-“The Man” here on these distributed social network systems, why do so many people still trust that The Man can make these sweeping decisions about what is the correct way to think? And at what point does that hurt us?

    • mindbleach
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      6 months ago

      “In my opinion, you should put the money in the bag.”

      “We” are also generally anti-bigot. Slippery-slope bullshit doesn’t work when conservatives are already censoring the targets of this miserable old woman’s endless bigotry. I’m in Florida - there’s married gay teachers here afraid to say the word “husband,” because of assholes abusing power. Nobody twisted around a well-meaning effort to combat that abuse. The abusers just did it, themselves, from scratch. So maybe I don’t give a shit about the what-ifs when some of the worst possibilities have already taken place.

      • coffee_with_cream
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        6 months ago

        Damn I like this! Also Florida btw. I don’t like that people are afraid to speak their truths. That’s what Florida should stand for. “I disagree with what you say, but I defend with my life your right to say it.”

        I don’t like how things have gotten lately. People should be free to disagree safely

        • mindbleach
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          6 months ago

          … something about this subject makes people go “Yeah! The opposite of your whole argument!”

          You are confused. Try again.

          • Batbro
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            6 months ago

            Are you wanting him to say “people shouldn’t be able to disagree safely”? 🤔

            • mindbleach
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              6 months ago

              Bigotry is not a matter of “disagreement.” It’s violence. It’s unjustifiable harm, done to innocent people.

              Stopping that does not somehow enable it. It is happening regardless.

          • coffee_with_cream
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            6 months ago

            I’m not really arguing, just trying to learn! I don’t really understand the anger here?