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Cracking down on Hate Crime
English Hate Crime Laws are a mess. Different levels of protection for different groups, and significant groups, such as women, excluded altogether. A new consultation from the Law Commission envisages fixing many of these issues. Here, explore background to the consultation and highlight some of the issues that might arise.
A few years back, one anti-trans organisation, incensed that its meeting had been cancelled by a football club tweeted out to supporters of that club, questioning their virility if they allowed themselves to be upstaged by a bunch of “men in dresses”.
Around the same time, the trans community in Manchester was quite literally traumatised by social media postings from another anti-trans organisations claiming they had been encouraging taxi drivers and bikers to stand up for women and the “safety” of “little girls” against trans people.
Incitement of violence? Of hate? Perhaps. But we shall never know — at least not in the legal sense — because Hate Crime Laws lack consistency. Head out to your local town centre and, from your portable pulpit, start haranguing the crowd. Call…
