by Scottish police have been accused of targeting JK Rowling by creating a fictional character called “Jo” who thinks sex is binary and strangely calls for transgender people to be sent to gas chambers.
At an official Police Scotland hate crime event, attendees were presented with a “case” in which Jo is described as a passionate, gender-critical campaigner who, like Rowling, believes that people cannot change sex and that a large number followed by people on social media.
Women’s groups claimed the character was a thin parody of the Harry Potter author, whose Christian name is Joanne and Joanne is called Jo by her friends, and fueled baseless conspiracies linking gender-critical beliefs to Nazism.
The “youth engagement” hate crime event, held in February, was part of a program of events organized by Police Scotland for LGBT history month.
Before the controversial new hate crime laws came into effect on April 1, police officers were given further sessions where concerns about people accessing women’s facilities were mocked and described as “absolutely obscene”.
Meanwhile, the SNP’s controversial proposals for a ban on conversion therapy were presented as part of ongoing work to “achieve equal rights for all” along with the decriminalization of homosexuality.
The hate crime event, supported by Police Scotland and organized by the Scottish LGBTI Police Association and campaign group Time for Inclusive Education (TIE), invited attendees to consider the case of “Jo”.
She is described as an “online influencer” who is “very active” on the social media platforms TikTok and Instagram, with a “huge following”. Rowling is active on X, previously Twitter, and has 14 million followers.
The fictional scenario states that Jo “travels around a university campus” to “discuss her views on the LGBTI community”.
He says Jo is “often passionate about her faith and will say things like ‘there’s only two genders'” and “too many attention seekers”.
Rowling regularly expresses similar sentiments on social media.
The case ends saying “Jo posted her latest video with the caption ‘they’re all in the gas chambers'”.
Attendees were then asked to discuss whether Jo had committed a hate crime and “what action do you think the police should have taken”.
Young people’s views were then recorded and “fed back to decision-makers within Police Scotland”.
Marion Calder, director of For Women Scotland, the campaign group, said the materials were “clearly trying to create a link with JK Rowling” and it was “deeply worrying” to see “Jo” jump so quickly from “reasonable statements ” to the Holocaust.
Transgender activists often claim a link between the gender-critical movement and far-right ideology, and compare transwomen to racists.
“This suggests that gender-critical and high-profile women support mass extinction, which is ironic, and sends a message to the police that perfectly safe women have been radicalized,” said Mr. Calder.
“These training sessions brought up statements by activists that were highly contested facts and would leave officers tasked with enforcing hate crime legislation with a heated view of the issues.”
Trans rights activists have vowed to target Rowling under new hate crime laws. She has denounced the legislation as “obscene” and vowed to pursue the “accurate sexisation” of men who claim to identify as women.
Activist groups have undue influence
Police Scotland admitted this week that “interested parties” had helped shape formal training materials for the hate crime legislation, which are separate from the events held for LGBT History month, but it is not clear who they were.
A session held on 22 February by Terrence Higgins Trust staff for Police Scotland staff included a link to a video in which trans model Munroe Bergdorf dismissed the debate about access to women’s toilets as “absolutely obscene because you can’t expect with a girl walking in. the boys”.
No other views are advanced as to why some women want to preserve single-sex spaces, and contested claims regarding the suicidal risks for trans people and the benefits of “gender confirmation” surgeries have also been advanced.
Kath Murray, of policy analysis group Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, said the materials highlighted “concerns about the undue influence of activist groups within Police Scotland”.
‘Militaristic and puerile’
She added: “The LGBT Staff Association and TIE have presented material that is, at points, misleading and preposterous.
“It suggests a crossover between critical views of gender and Nazism, which he attributes to a character named ‘Jo’.
“Other content promotes controversial medical practices. At the same time, Police Scotland expects officers to weigh up what a reasonable person would consider ‘offensive’ in the context of transgender identity.
“It is worrying that he appears to be blind to this obvious conflict, and that no due diligence has been done on these matters.”
‘LGBT+ events are not compulsory for officers’
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police Scotland marked LGBT+ history month by sharing content on our internal channels and hosting online events to recognize the contribution of LGBT+ people to society and the many challenges they face.
“These events were not mandatory for officers and staff and are not part of Police Scotland’s training.
“Separately, our training package for the implementation of hate crime legislation has been developed in close consultation with stakeholders, and is based on the Scottish Government’s explanatory notes, to ensure that officers are best prepared when responding to hate crimes and incidents .
“Our training for the new Act reminds officers of their human rights obligations and demonstrates all aspects of the new legislation, including the protection of freedom of expression.”
