JK Rowling and I could be locked up by Scotland’s anti-free-speech mob

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Comedy. Culture. Art. Literature. The great Scottish enlightenment. A historic role in the Reformation of the Church.

All attributes listed on tourist brochures of Scotland. But as from this week, Scotland’s new law will crack down on the free speech that enabled all of this to flourish in the land in which William Wallace fought for "freedom."

On April 1, our "hate speech" ban came into force, creating a new offense of "stirring up hatred" against protected categories – including based on transgender identity and sexual orientation.

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Nobody likes to be hated. Very few people want to make others around them feel that way. But the law is vague, far-reaching and lacks clear parameters around what the state decides could be "hateful" language. Could it be illegal to state facts about the biological reality of women? Could it be a crime to defend marriage between a man and a woman? Depending on the context, nobody knows.

First to catch headlines for her vulnerability to the law is Scotland’s most celebrated and influential author. As if with the flick of a wand – or the tap of a tweet – J.K. Rowling has gone from beloved icon to villainous witch in the eyes of the establishment.

For many years, her tweets upholding women’s rights to single-sex spaces – be it in prison cells, changing rooms or rape crisis centers – have caused a stir among the public. A vengeful social media mob crying "witch" against her heresy against modern social orthodoxies.

The new law grants legal teeth to those online pitchforks.

It’s unclear whether Rowling has said enough to warrant arrest. Certainly,