A highly controversial law is set to into force on Monday, April 1, in Scotland: the Hate Crime and Public Order Act. Proposed in 2020 by the government led by Nicola Sturgeon (then leader of the Scottish pro-independence SNP), and adopted by Holyrood (the Scottish Parliament) in 2021, it criminalizes comments or attitudes "stirring up hatred" against certain characteristics that are henceforth considered protected: age, disability, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity. The text complements a 1986 law, that had only criminalized the offense of stirring up racial hatred.

According to the Scottish government's explanation, a "Hate Crime can be verbal or physical and can take place anywhere, including online." Those convicted of committing this act can face up to seven years in prison.

The new law "will give greater protections to those who need it and helps to form the basis of understanding about the type of behavior that is not acceptable in our society," said Siobhian Brown, the victims and community safety minister, in a statement on another Scottish government document. Scotland's government is currently led by Humza Yousaf, who had championed the hate crime act when he was Sturgeon's justice minister.

The bill's many criticisms have warned of a serious threat to freedom of expression. They have mainly come from conservative circles, but also from authors' unions and feminist groups. The latter have been worried that they would be the first to be targeted by future complaints under the law, as the debate on gender identity has become considerably polarized in Scotland, pitting transgender activists against those who maintain that sex is an immutable biological fact.

Scottish resident J. K. Rowling, the famous Harry Potter author, has already received online threats of prosecution under the new law. The writer, who has become one of the most prominent representatives of this "gender-critical" faction, has, in recent years, not hesitated to assert her controversial point of view, often at the risk of being accused of transphobia. "If you genuinely imagine I'd delete posts calling a man a man, so as not to be prosecuted under this ludicrous law, stand by for the mother of all April Fools' jokes," the author with 14 million subscribers on social media platform X announced on March 17.

The law is "a recipe for disaster," blasted Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, while the very conservative newspaper Daily Telegraph accused Scotland of becoming an "Orwellian nightmare."

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