The legislation, which has the support of police, prosecutors and criminal justice agencies, aims to tackle abusive behaviour, be it from fans watching matches in a stadium, in the pub or commenting online.
It sets out new protections which would help tackle homophobic or transphobic chanting at football matches. Stonewall Scotland lobbied for the act to also tackle threatening communications directed at LGB and T people but this protection currently covers incitement to religious hatred only.
We would like the new offence of threatening communication that is intended to stir up religious hatred to be extended to other forms of hatred including homophobic and transphobic hatred. An amendment could easily be made to the Act, but the Scottish Government have said they would like to consult more widely before doing so.
Stonewall Scotland will monitor the implementation of the Act and work with the Crown Office and the Scottish Courts Service. At Stonewall Scotland we are committed to ensuring that these important protections for LGB and T Scots are passed in to law, to bring Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.
You can read more about the Act on the Scottish Government website.
View a copy of our submission of evidence to the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament: Stonewall Scotland written evidence
If you would like to read the original version of the submission (without redactions), you can view a copy here: Stonewall Scotland written evidence - original
Please note that you may find some of the material cited offensive and upsetting.
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