Achi news desk-
Lorna Slater, who is also a co-convener and minister, added that the response to the law, which came into force on April 1, had been “sad and frustrating”.
He went on to apologize to gender fluid and trans people for failing to create a world in which they feel safe.
Mr Harvie referred to hate crime legislation he championed in a private member’s bill 15 years ago and referred to an incident in August last year where homophobic abuse was leveled at him during a television interview with the BBC.
Police Scotland was investigating the incident.
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Mr Harvie said: “You had Tory MPs giving you rent-and-quote lines for the right-wing press, describing it as an ‘alleged’ incident and claiming it as evidence that the police were taking personal political direction by ministers.
“It was completely bogus nonsense, which has happened again this week.
“The opponents of the law know they are lying. It is very, very deliberate.
“They have known through all this that the threshold for prosecution under this legislation is high and deservedly so.”
He continued: “There are certain protections for freedom of expression and rightly so, and not all expressions of bigotry or hate or offense are infringed by it.
“And yet they have been trying to create the impression that there is, using this kind of enthusiastic attitude of ‘go ahead, arrest me’, in this kind of petulant manner.
“And then when they’re not arrested for something that’s clearly not a crime, trying to claim some kind of victory.
“It’s performative. And if this had no result, it would be a shallow, unimportant game.
“But it has a consequence, because this kind of behavior and the media frenzy they deliberately cultivate around it embodies those in our society who are a real threat of world abuse real and violence against marginalized and minority groups in our society.”
On the day the legislation came into effect, Ms Rowling posted a thread on X which referred to a number of high-profile trans women as men and challenged Police Scotland to arrest them. The force said there was no evidence of criminality and the incident would not be recorded as a hate incident which is not a crime.
Asked if it would include Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Mr Harvie said “yes” and added: “Anyone with a high-profile platform needs to think, ‘Am I creating more division here, or am I to try to create understanding and empathy? ‘
“I would appeal to anyone, be it a cultural figure, a politician, a media outlet, I would encourage everyone who has a voice in this matter to emphasize how we create empathy and understanding rather than how we sow more of division.”
Mr Harvie said the west of Scotland he grew up in was not a safe place for LGBTQ+ people and that he had experienced homophobia throughout his political career.
However, he added, progress has been made and continues to be made.
He said: “The fact that we are being held back in the last few years is not an accident, it is being done on purpose.
“They’ve been beaten before, these kind of poisonous forces of hatred.
“The forces of continuity and empathy and unity and equality can win because it’s happened before.
“I don’t think we should go into some kind of fatalistic view that that kind of division is going to win.”
Ms Slater said: “I feel like I want to apologize to our trans and genderqueer brothers and sisters that we haven’t made a world that is completely safe for them yet.
“But we’re working on it, we’re trying.”
He added: “It’s very sad and frustrating that people are taking a bill [SIC]the legislation designed to protect people from abuse and harassment as they go about their normal daily lives, in this way.
“We need to do everything we can to enable people to live their lives free of abuse and harassment.
“So it’s a bit appalling that people have misrepresented the bill as if they wanted to be allowed to do those things.
“I don’t want to live in a country like that. I want to live in a country where everyone can feel safe.”
In response, Scottish Conservative deputy chair Pam Gosal said: “As a government minister Patrick Harvie should not be dismissing many valid concerns about the Hate Crime Act.
“He makes baseless and offensive claims about violence occurring as a result of people opposing the Humza Yousaf law and he should choose such language much more carefully.
“Police officers, legal experts and artists have all voiced concerns about this law’s threat to freedom of speech but co-leader Green seems unwilling to listen to any of them.”
