Police Scotland have been accused of parodying JK Rowling by inventing a fictional character for a hate crime event called “Jo” who’s passionate about ‘gender-critical’ campaigning and thinks transgender people should be sent to gas chambers.
At an official Police Scotland hate crime “youth engagement” event, those in attendance were given a scenario in which Jo, who believes that sex is binary, has a large social media following to espouse her views, The Telegraph reports.
The event, which was held in February and co-organised by the Scottish LGBTI Police Association and the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign group, was part of an LGBT history month series supported by Police Scotland.
Attendees were asked to consider Jo’s case, who’s described as an “online influencer” with a “large following” on social media platforms TikTok and Instagram that she’s very active on. In the scenario attendees were presented with, Jo travels around university campuses to “debate her beliefs about the LGBTI community”. The scenario further adds that Jo is often “very passionate” about her beliefs and will say things like “there are only two genders” and that there are “too many attention-seeking wannabes”.
Women’s groups and commentators online have claimed that “Jo” is an obvious parody of Ms Rowling, who is often referred to as “Jo” by her friends, and who is active on X (formerly Twitter) where she has a large following and often debates gender-related issues.
Ms Rowling has frequently come under fire in recent years for her belief that people cannot change their sex, and has received death threats as a result of her views.
Jo’s scenario concludes by stating that “Jo posted her most recent video with the caption ‘they all belong in the gas chambers’”, in a reference to transgender people. Attendees were then asked to consider whether or not Jo had committed a hate crime and if so, what action the police should take.
This comes as Scotland prepares for hate crime laws to come into force April 1, which will make “stirring up hatred” against a protected characteristic, such as sexual orientation or gender identity, an offence.