Incitement to Hatred
In May 2008, Parliament passed important and necessary new legal protections against incitement to hatred on grounds of sexual orientation in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act. Stonewall has campaigned for a number of years to extend existing criminal offences against incitement of racial and religious hatred to protect lesbian, gay and bisexual people too. We’re pressing the Government to implement the new offence at the earliest opportunity.
Stonewall believes that the newly-extended criminal offence of incitement to hatred will go some way towards addressing the hatred and violence directed towards lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in Britain at a time when homophobic attacks are on the increase. It sends a strong signal that such behaviour is unacceptable in a civilised society. Like race, a person's sexual orientation is an intrinsic characteristic for which no citizen should ever feel under threat of verbal or physical violence.
Regrettably, the House of Lords also introduced an amendment to the incitement offence, tabled by Lord Waddington. Stonewall believes that Lord Waddington’s clause - now Section 29JA of the Public Order Act 1986 - is entirely unnecessary and risks allowing some people of extreme views to seek to avoid prosecution by exploiting this loophole. The threshold of the new homophobic incitement offence is set very high. The Waddington amendment seeks to protect something that was never under threat.
The Government attempted to remove Lord Waddington’s amendment through the Coroners and Justice Bill. After several votes on this issue, the Government accepted the Lords position on Wednesday 12 November 2009 owing to the pressures of the parliamentary timetable. In the most recent vote in the House of Commons, on Monday 9 November, elected Members of Parliament had disagreed with the Lords by a very significant majority of 200 votes.
Stonewall’s concern is that the Lords insistence on the Waddington clause sends a worrying message at a time when police figures show that homophobic attacks are on the increase. We remain of the view that the language of the Waddington amendment is deeply offensive and stigmatising.
However, we will now be pressing the Government to implement the new incitement to hatred offence at the earliest opportunity, to provide protection to lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
Background
MPs approved amendments to add a proposed new offence of incitement to homophobic hatred to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill on 29 November 2007, following an announcement by Justice Secretary Jack Straw that the Government intended to legislate in this area. Stonewall had campaigned on this issue for many months, seeking to persuade Ministers to extend existing legal protections against inciting racial and religious hatred to protect lesbian and gay people.
Why do we need the new laws?
Many people in Britain are subject to hatred and verbal and physical violence or live in fear because of their sexual orientation - the new offence is much needed and will help mitigate that violence.
Stonewall believes that the new offence of incitement to hatred on grounds of sexual orientation will help to tackle extremists who currently stir up hatred and violence against lesbians and gay men. The effects of this activity are demonstrated in the increasing number of homophobic attacks taking place across Britain.
What the new laws will cover...
Once implemented, the new offence will tackle serious acts of hatred directed towards lesbian and gay people. These include homophobic song lyrics, available to buy in Britain, which encourage the torture and murder of gay people and violently homophobic publications and websites, available to the general public. Such materials create great fear and promote inflammatory myths and misconceptions as fact, undermining community cohesion.
What the new laws won't cover...
There have been some alarmist claims about what the new laws will cover. The new protections will categorically not impede genuine freedom of speech or the telling of jokes by comedians, as some have suggested.
The offence will not outlaw jokes involving gay people, or any jokes that a gay person might deem offensive. Neither will it cover playground insults.
Instead, the new offence will aim to prevent and tackle acts of serious hatred against individuals defined by reference to their sexual orientation, with a high threshold for prosecutions which must be approved by the Attorney General and heard before a jury.
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