Susan Smith of For Women Scotland testifying on the proposed Hate Crime and Public Order Bill:

I echo what Lucy Hunter Blackburn said powerfully and from the heart. The heart of the issue is that women in Scotland are furious and frightened by some of the implications of the bill not least because, the other week, a series of amendments were proposed, none of which seems to cross a line to being hateful, yet parliamentarians stood up and denounced them as shocking and “transphobic” for including phrases such as

“there are only two sexes”.

We have a real issue that, although there are reasonable person tests in the bill, there are also people who are determined to use the bill to enforce compelled speech. There are also people, some of whom are office bearers in political parties in Scotland, who have stated clearly online that they will use the bill to criminalise and attack women. They are openly discussing that and we know that they are doing so.

The Scottish Government has said that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women needs to be at the heart of everything that it does, but I am not sure that we will be able even to talk about CEDAW if some of those people report women for having discussions about sex-based rights. Certainly, political parties in Scotland have managed to draw up definitions of bigotry that claim that it is bigotry to talk about people’s biology or use the wrong pronouns. Where does that leave a woman who is facing a rapist on the stand and the rapist has decided to identify as a woman that week? People are saying that that will have no effect. They are talking about putting misgendering into the bill; there are also all the definitions that political parties are accepting. That goes hand in hand with those issues.

As Lucy Hunter Blackburn said, we have a situation in Spain in which it is not a hate crime to hang an effigy of a real woman in the town square, but it is a hate crime for a woman, who was tortured under Franco, to say that women should have sex-based rights. That is happening under similar laws. There is no provision in the bill for sex; we now learn that there was never going to be and that the working group will not even consider it.

We have very little trust in this Government and very little trust that the bill will not be used to target, harass and attack women. We need stronger provisions and for women to be protected. As we go into an election and the Government is still determined to push through the GRA, we are very concerned that women who argue against it—and argue for the law as it stands—will be criminalised. We need up-front reassurances now. We need to know that we can talk about women, adult human females and two sexes, and about sex being immutable, because we are not getting any reassurance.

Women are angry. There are thousands and thousands of very, very frightened women. The convener said that he was frightened by the implications of some of the objections to the amendments; consider how frightened women are. I am sorry to be so emotional about it, but it is difficult and traumatic, and it has been a horrific experience for a lot of vulnerable women. Thank you for inviting us back and hearing us. Please remember to listen to women.

Please do.

H/t Night Crow