U.K. Prime Minister Backs J.K. Rowling After She Dares Scottish Police to ‘Arrest Me’ Over New Hate Crime Act

variety.com:

Ellise Shafer U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has backed J.K. Rowling after the “Harry Potter” author spoke out against Scotland’s new hate crime act, daring the police to arrest her for misgendering trans women.

The act, which went into effect on Monday, includes an offense for “stirring up hatred” regarding age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.

In a lengthy thread posted on Monday to X, formerly known as Twitter, Rowling listed 10 trans women — including India Willoughby, who in March reported Rowling to the police for alleged transphobia — who would be protected under the act. “April Fools!” wrote Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh. “Only kidding.

Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them. In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls.” Rowling continued, “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.” Under the post, she added the hashtag “#ArrestMe.” Later on Monday, Sunak released a statement to the Daily Telegraph defending Rowling’s views.