JK Rowling is an opponent of the gender identity movement (File)
JK Rowling will not face an investigation over her comments about a controversial new law in Scotland aimed at reducing hate speech, including against trans people, Police Scotland said on Tuesday.
The Harry Potter author, an opponent of the gender identity movement, criticized the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, which came into force on Monday, saying it was an attack on free speech.
In a lengthy criticism posted online, she said the law was “easily abused by campaigners looking to silence those of us who speak out about the dangers of eradicating single-sex spaces for women and girls”.
“I am currently abroad but if what I write here constitutes a crime under the terms of the new Act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment,” she wrote.
Police Scotland said they had received a complaint about JK Rowling’s posts in Edinburgh, but a spokesman added: “The comments have not been assessed as criminal conduct and no further action will be taken.”
The devolved Scottish Parliament, which has legislative powers in some areas, passed the bill to consolidate existing hate crime legislation and ban incitement to hatred against multiple groups.
Protected characteristics include age, disability, race, religion and sexual orientation and gender identity.
But JK Rowling and others who support her views say the new laws will do nothing to protect women and girls.
She faced a barrage of online abuse, death threats and accusations of transphobia for supporting a woman who lost her job after claiming trans people could not change their biological sex.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
