On Tuesday 21 June 2022, the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee will take evidence from Dr Chris Dietz of the University of Leeds, whose research addresses the regulation of gender, with a specific focus upon how gender recognition…
Author: Adventures in Evidence
MBM April 2022 newsletter
Our newsletter for April 2022 is available here.
The thin blue line: What inadequate protection for freedom of expression means in practice
This blog summarises why the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill needs to provide clearer protection for freedom of expression than is currently proposed by the Scottish Government. Some commentators have suggested that the Bill will criminalise making basic…
Read More The thin blue line: What inadequate protection for freedom of expression means in practice
Response to emergency consultation on protection of freedom of expression in the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill
Our response to the Justice Committee's emergency consultation on freedom of expression in Bill is provided below. A PDF version of the briefing can be downloaded here. The Issue Our concern is whether the law will provide a clear point…
Freedom of expression protection in the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill: the doors are still closed
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill extends the existing offence of "stirring up hatred" in relation to race, to a wider range of characteristics. As described here, the Justice Committee agreed with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on…
Legislating for hatred against women: the view from the coalface
This blog may be accessed as a briefing here The omission of ‘sex’ as a protected characteristic is a key area of contention in the proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, which is currently making its way through…
Read More Legislating for hatred against women: the view from the coalface
Supplementary evidence on the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill
We have submitted supplementary evidence to the Justice Committee in the light of (a) an open letter currently circulating which has been signed by a number of parliamentarians and others (b) the Cabinet Secretary’s comments at the Justice Committee hearing…
Read More Supplementary evidence on the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill
The Scottish Parliament’s bill process and the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill
This is a post setting out how the Scottish Parliament handles government bills, and what that means for the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. A Bill is the draft form of an act of parliament. An Act of…
Read More The Scottish Parliament’s bill process and the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill
GRA Reform: Meeting with Scottish Government officials 9 March 2020
On what now seems like a lifetime ago, 9 March, we met officials from the Scottish Government to discuss the consultation on the draft Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Our meeting was with a senior official responsible for this area and…
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MBM submission to the 2019 Scottish GRA reform consultation
We have submitted our response to the Scottish Government's consultation on on GRA reform. Our full consultation response is here: Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: MurrayBlackburnMackenzieconsultation response We do not support the Scottish Government proposal for statutory self-declaration for a…
Read More MBM submission to the 2019 Scottish GRA reform consultation