Controversially, the bill does not include “sex” as a protected characteristic. The bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on March 11, 2021, and became law on April 23, 2021.
The bill has generated considerable controversy since the Scottish government first introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill during April 2020 in response to an independent review of hate crime laws led by Alastair Campbell, Lord Bracadale, a retired judge. Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s former justice minister and later first minister, has shepherded the bill through Parliament.
In a statement issued July 29, 2020, the Catholic bishops of Scotland argued that the bill could lead to censorship of Catholic teaching if documents such as the Bible or the Catechism of the Catholic Church are deemed “inflammatory material.” The bishops also noted that pronouncements of Catholic teaching on sex and gender “might be perceived by others as an abuse of their own, personal worldview and likely to stir up hatred.”
In 2021, the Catholic Parliamentary Office, a public policy agency of the Scottish bishops, said that it remained “deeply concerned” by proposed drafts of the section of the bill relating to freedom of expression, especially a lack of protections for the expression of the Christian view of sexual orientation and transgender identity.
“There should be no threat of prosecution for expressing the belief that, for example, there are only two sexes or genders; that a man cannot become a woman and vice versa; or that marriage can only be between one man and one woman,” the office stated at the time.
The current text of the bill includes a provision meant to protect religious freedom of expression, stating that “behavior or material is not to be taken to be threatening or abusive solely on the basis that it involves or includes … discussion or criticism relating to, or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, or insult towards … religious beliefs or practices.”
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