Scottish police have been accused of targeting JK Rowling by inventing a fictional character called “Jo” who thinks sex is binary and strangely wants transgender people to be sent to the gas chambers.
At an official Police Scotland hate crime event, attendees were presented with a “scenario” in which Jo was described as a passionate gender critical campaigner who, like Rowling, believes people cannot change their gender and has a large following on social media.
Women’s groups claimed the character was a thinly veiled parody of the Harry Potter author, whose Christian name is Joanne and referred to as Jo by her friends, fueling unsubstantiated conspiracies about a link between gender-critical beliefs and Nazism.
The hate crime “youth engagement” event in February was part of Police Scotland’s program of events for LGBT history month.
Ahead of controversial new hate crime laws coming into force on April 1, police officers have been held at further hearings in which concerns about male-bodied people accessing women’s facilities have been derided and described as “completely ridiculous”.
Meanwhile, the SNP’s controversial proposals to ban conversion therapy have been presented as part of ongoing work to “achieve equal rights for all” and have been likened to decriminalizing homosexuality.
The hate crime event, supported by Police Scotland and jointly organized by the LGBTI Police Association of Scotland and the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign group, invited participants to consider the case of “Jo”.
He is described as an “online influencer” who is “very active” on social media platforms TikTok and Instagram and has a “huge following”. Rowling is active on X, formerly Twitter, and has 14 million followers.
The fictional scenario states that Jo “travels around college campuses” to “discuss her beliefs about the LGBTI community.”
He notes that Jo “is often passionate about her beliefs and says things like ‘there are only two genders'” and is “a copycat trying to get a lot of attention.”
Rowling regularly expresses similar sentiments on social media.
The script ends by saying, “Jo posted her latest video with the caption ‘it’s all about the gas chambers’.”
Participants were then asked to discuss whether Jo had committed a hate crime and “what action do you think the police should have taken?”
The views expressed by the young people were then recorded and “fed back to decision makers within Police Scotland”.
Marion Calder, director of campaign group For Women Scotland, said the material was “clearly attempting to draw a link with JK Rowling” and that it was “deeply worrying” to see “Jo” quickly jump from “plausible statements” to “plausible statements”. Holocaust
Trans activists often claim a connection between the gender critical movement and far-right ideology, and compare those who do not accept that trans women are women to racists.
“This shows high-profile gender critical women supporting mass extinction, which is frankly crazy and sends a message to the police that sane women are being radicalised,” Ms Calder said.
“These wake-up training sessions by activists present highly controversial statements as fact and will leave officers tasked with enforcing hate crime legislation with a distorted perspective on the issues.”
Trans rights activists have vowed to target Rowling under new hate crime laws. He denounced the law as “ridiculous” and vowed to continue the “correct gendering” of men who claim to identify as women.
Activist groups ‘have undue influence’
Police Scotland this week admitted that “stakeholders” helped shape official training material for hate crime legislation, which is separate from events organized for LGBT History month, but it is unclear who they are.
A session held by Terrence Higgins Foundation Police Scotland staff on 22 February included a link to a video in which trans model Munroe Bergdorf dismissed the debate over access to women’s toilets, saying it was “completely ridiculous because you can’t expect a girl to go into the toilet”. gentlemen”.
While no alternative views have been put forward as to why some women are keen to maintain single-sex spaces, controversial claims have also been made about suicide risks for transgender people and the benefits of “gender-affirming” surgeries.
Kath Murray, of the policy analysis group Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, said the materials added weight to “existing concerns about the undue influence of activist groups within Police Scotland”.
‘Misleading and childish’
He added: “The material jointly submitted by the LGBT Staff Association and the TIE is misleading and childish at some points.
“This suggests a crossover between gender-critical views and Nazism, attributed to a character named ‘Jo’.
“Other materials promote questionable medical practices. At the same time, Police Scotland expects officers to consider what a reasonable person would consider to be ‘abuse’ in the context of trans identity.
“It is disturbing that he seems blind to this clear conflict and appears to have done no due diligence on these materials.”
‘LGBT+ events are not mandatory for civil servants’
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 contributions LGBT+ people make to society and the many challenges they face.
“These activities were not compulsory for officers and staff and are not part of Police Scotland training.
“In addition, our training package for the enforcement of hate crime legislation has been developed in close consultation with stakeholders and is based on the Scottish Government’s explanatory notes to ensure officers are best prepared when responding to hate crimes and incidents.
“Our training on the new Code reminds civil servants of their human rights obligations and reflects all aspects of the new legislation, including the protection it contains under freedom of expression.”