Will J.K. Rowling Get Arrested For "Misgendering" Trans People? Scotland's New Hate Crime Law Explained

In a post to X, the author expressed her frustration with Scottish lawmakers placing "higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness" rather than the "rights and freedoms of actual women and girls."

“Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal,” J.K. Rowling wrote on X following Scotland's new "woke" legislation. She added, “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, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”

According to Scotland's new hate crime law, it's an offence to behave in a threatening or abusive manner toward individuals based on various characteristics including disability, religion, sexual orientation, age, variations in sex characteristics, and race. However, misgendering someone is not explicitly a crime under these laws (yet); rather, it's up to the police to determine if misgendering constitutes a hate crime on a case-by-case basis, which means that Rowling could still be investigated for her tweets criticizing the transgender movement. The author is known to use the correct pronouns ("he" for biological males and "she" for biological females) for trans-identifying people on social media platforms.

Siobhian Brown, the Scottish National Party Community Safety Minister, told The Telegraph that calling a trans woman "he" instead of their preferred pronouns could be considered a criminal offense. "It could be reported and it could be investigated. Whether or not the police would think it was criminal is up to Police Scotland for that," she said.

"There is a very high threshold which is in the act which would be up to Police Scotland, and what would have to be said online or in person would be threatening and abusive," Brown added.

Will J.K. Rowling Get Arrested?

However, the Scottish police force has said that while complaints have been received, no action would be taken – a win for women.

Reacting to this news, Rowling wrote, "I hope every woman in Scotland who wishes to speak up for the reality and importance of biological sex will be reassured by this announcement, and I trust that all women – irrespective of profile or financial means – will be treated equally under the law."

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