Consultation on Scottish Hate Crime Legislation

Any assault should simply be considered an assault. Is there really any requirement for the consideration of aggravating factors?

The language is more clear, but only if the two terms are linguistically equivalent.

It creates a different mechanism whereby the police will be able to effectively introduce thoughtcrime as an offence by the back door, by monitoring social media and real-world speech and taking comments out of context. Whole swathes of society will become criminalised on spurious grounds because 'demonstrating hostility' will be more broadly applied than it is intended. Changes in the law always have unintended consequences, and I worry that particularly noisy groups which falsely hide behind protected characteristics, will seek to abuse the law: for example, the misogynist element which currently masquerades as trans-activists, while seeking to erode the protections afforded to women - gay women in particular.

Transgender identity is currently a matter of debate which has not been considered according to any rational scientific evidence - merely with the view of appeasing a noisy sub-minority of the LBGT community which is actively seeking to erroneously erode women's rights. This carries the huge risk of marginalising both women AND trans people who genuinely experience gender dysphoria.

Intersex people are not necessarily transgender, however I feel that transgender identity would be more accurately described as an intersex condition rather than the ridiculous situation we appear to have at present where misogynists in dresses and makeup are claiming to be women/female.

I think all 'hate crime' legislation should be simplified. All assaults should be considered in the same way. All sex crimes should be considered in the same way (and the conviction rate needs to massively increase). 'Hate crime' is an Orwellian concept which makes headlines, but I don't see the requirement for them to be on the statute book.

I think all 'hate crime' legislation should be simplified. All assaults should be considered in the same way. All sex crimes should be considered in the same way (and the conviction rate needs to massively increase). 'Hate crime' is an Orwellian concept which makes headlines, but I don't see the requirement for them to be on the statute book.

What does this MEAN? If we are talking about violence against women, then that is not an issue of GENDER, it is an issue of biological SEX. Get the terminology right.

Harassment is harassment. Keep it that way.

Misogyny must be tackled head-on, especially from the men who claim to be 'trans' and advocate the rape and physical assault of women - particularly lesbians.

The behaviour on social media of men who claim to be 'trans' and advocate the rape and physical assault of women - particularly lesbians.

This sounds utterly ridiculous.

This should include prosecution of those involved in culturally unwelcome phenomena such as the Orange Walk and the behaviour of football fans.

ALL religions, or violence committed by religious groups (e.g. the Orange Order) against society in general (i.e. their 'Walk').

Educating children about Scottish AND Irish history, challenging stereotypes, acknowledging the existence of anti-Irish racism, forcing organisations such as 'Rangers' and Celtic to renounce their outdated ideologies, banning Catholic educational segregation in the public sector, banning the Orange Walk, forcing MPs/MSPs/Councillors to declare their affiliation with any type of religious organisation (including Rangers/Celtic)

What does 'hostility' mean? Pretty much all of Scotland is hostile towards the Conservative Party. Would we all end up as criminals because of this? Political entities deserve hostility. N.B. religious bodies and organisations are also political, and should not be afforded protection from hostility.

The proposals are too open to interpretation and potential abuse. This effectively introduces the offence of thoughtcrime.

Legislation would need to protect people online by way of the police not being able to cherrypick comments outwith their context in order to create a misleading picture of someone's views.

Leave existing laws alone.