During the Stage 1 oral evidence sessions on the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, the definition of ‘transgender identity’ was discussed. This briefing traces how ‘cross-dressers’ came to be included within the definition of transgender identity in the…
Read More The inclusion of ‘cross-dressers’ under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill
Introduction On 15 December 2020, at the Stage 1 debate of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill MSPs debated the theory of how to avoid criminalising merely offensive speech. The following day, a judgement was published in England,…
Read More Protecting Speech that Offends: Theory and Practice
The Stage 3 debate on the Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Bill will take place this Thursday, 10 December. The purpose of the bill is to improve access to healthcare services for victims of rape and sexual…
Read More Sex and gender in the Forensic Medical Services Bill
At the time of writing, the three UK census authorities (National Records of Scotland , Office for National Statistics, and the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Authority) are planning to provide guidance to accompany the sex question in the next…
Read More International evidence and the risks of reframing the sex question in the census
IntroductionOn 20 November Scottish Affairs published an advance online copy of our new article, 'Losing Sight of Women's Rights (Again), in which we defend an earlier paper, published by the same journal in 2019. Our new article was written in response…
Read More Sex, gender identity, and the erosion of academic norms
Every ten years the census gives us a complete picture of the nation. It allows us to compare different groups of people across the United Kingdom because the same questions are asked, and the information is recorded, in the same…
The Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee will begin consideration of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill at Stage 1 and will take evidence from Cabinet Secretary for Justice on Tuesday 27 October. Below are questions to which we suggest…
In April 2020 the Scottish Government published the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. The Bill aims to consolidate existing hate crime legislation, introduce new protected characteristics, introduce new provisions for stirring up hatred for all characteristics, and abolish…
Read More The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill: Views from Scottish policing
It has been hard to miss the reaction to the Scottish Government’s proposal in its hate crime bill to extend the crime of ‘stirring up hatred’ to a wider range of situations than now. Currently, “stirring up” offences apply only…
Read More Options for securing consensus on the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill
Today’s statement by Liz Truss brings much needed clarity on the UK Government’s proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act. We have previously argued that a shift to a system of self-declaration, without the requirement for a diagnosis of gender…
Read More MurrayBlackburnMackenzie response to the UK Government GRA announcement
