Scottish woman told would be charged for homophobic and transphobic tweets

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

twitter.com/millar_marion/status/1396039074239164423?s=19

On Wednesday April the 28th 2021 I received a call from a PC Laura Daley from police scotland requesting i attend an interview for homophobic and transphobic tweets under the milacious communications act.

I was asked to attend that coming Friday, she told me I had to attend East Kilbride police station so I could be then transported to Cathcart police station in a police car because I would have to go to a police station where there is holding cells, I would be then processed, questioned and then most likely charged.

I told her I would not be attending any interview on that day especially with it being a bank holiday weekend because my autistic twins needed me and I was scared I would be held all weekend.

To this she told me she would attend my house with social workers for my boys.

I contacted a solicitor straight away and he was unable to get PC Daley so for the first bank holiday in May I sent my disabled twins away for fear of this officer carrying out this threat.

This absolute nonsense has been hanging over my head for a month, I can barely sleep
or eat and I still don't know what the offending tweet is, my new interview has been scheduled for Thursday the 27th May, I will find out what I am supposed to have said at that point and if I will be indeed charged, again at another bank holiday, I just want to say, anyone who knows me, knows I am not homophobic or transphobic, I am a hard working mummy who would fight to the end for the safety and dignity of women and girls and for my vulnerable twinnies.

If we sit back and do nothing we will regret it for ever. For this reason I will never
Wheesht.

#WomenWontWheesht

I cannot believe what this has come to.

I hope the judge is fair, and not captured.

I recently looked into a Master's at Brunel, they put me off because they were really pushy and kept phoning me, I'm so glad I chose to do it somewhere else and I'm not giving them my money.

Surely this can’t be really only about that picture. Can we be sure?

@ArabellaScott

And Brunel university's response, when confronted with pictures of guns posted as threats by their student say '*@Transalorian* We support and stand by our Transgender staff and students. Trans rights are human rights.'

Everyone needs to stop reporting these threats to Twitter (or the abusers uni). They need to be reported directly to the police, the way TRAs do to women. The police need to take notice and hopefully if we start reporting en masse they will be forced to do something. We need to show them that we are not just one or two uppity little women. Women are half the population and we can act together to create a change.

@Undersnatch

Surely this can’t be really only about that picture. Can we be sure?

There are four/five other tweets apparently. But apparently this one was included, which is just mad.

@ahagwearsapointybonnet

Would be very interesting to know whether any of the (according to the Times) 6 tweets involved had been reported to Twitter before the police complaint or not, and if yes, what the outcome was. (It sounds as though Marion was not aware of any tweets having been reported and had not been asked to remove any?). Also whether the person who complained had blocked or muted her on Twitter.

If the tweets were genuinely hateful, I would have expected them to have been reported on Twitter immediately and for her to have been made to remove them and/or had her account suspended or removed. This could then have avoided the need for any police involvement. If they were never reported, or were reported but Twitter found them harmless, that would seem to weaken the case.

Similarly if the complainant found them personally hateful or felt harassed, an obvious first step would have been to block out at least mute her account. Not doing so (or doing so but then searching out the tweets in question by other means) would suggest they were more interested in continuing to monitor her posts than avoiding potentially hurtful content...

It's interesting that Marion's twitter account is still up. People have had theirs suspended for much less.

Apparently it's suggested that the ribbon looks like a noose. Bit of a leap.

Just hope they don’t see a Maypole.

@JustNippingToWaitrose

It’s not just the ribbon. It’s also the hashtag #davidpaisleyhateswomen that she posted.

The horror!

Is the prosecution’s argument perhaps that saying “X hates women”, when X is an out gay man, is a homophobic statement. To be homophobic, it would have to be made on the basis of his sexuality, ie. the argument is the accused would not have stated “X hates women” were X heterosexual. But, if the accusation of X hating women is being made on the basis of X’s public behaviour towards and evidenced treatment of women, in what is perceived by the targets (women) as a hateful manner, not in any way connected with X’s sexuality, then it is not homophobic. It is just an opinion based on their experience of X. In my humble, non-lawyerly opinion.

Need to wait and see

I’ve heard worse insults in the playground. Are the police also looking at his account to see the things that he has said? He’s no St Francis.

But isn’t this all speculation? We don’t know who brought this action.

@toffeebutterpopcorn

I’ve heard worse insults in the playground. Are the police also looking at his account to see the things that he has said? He’s no St Francis.

Well he's shut it down for the moment hasn't he? Probably going to do a bit of cleaning up.

The internet never forgets though

@Cwenthryth

Is the prosecution’s argument perhaps that saying “X hates women”, when X is an out gay man, is a homophobic statement. To be homophobic, it would have to be made on the basis of his sexuality, ie. the argument is the accused would not have stated “X hates women” were X heterosexual. But, if the accusation of X hating women is being made on the basis of X’s public behaviour towards and evidenced treatment of women, in what is perceived by the targets (women) as a hateful manner, not in any way connected with X’s sexuality, then it is not homophobic. It is just an opinion based on their experience of X. In my humble, non-lawyerly opinion.

Surely homophobic behaviour is about the sexuality of the person it's aimed against it the sexuality of the person with the inappropriate behaviour?

So homophobia against lesbians is a common one from some men

X hating women irrespective of their sexuality would be misogyny which is unfortunately not currently included in the Scottish hate laws, as apparently it's ok to hate people for their sex

Surely homophobic behaviour is about the sexuality of the person it's aimed against it the sexuality of the person with the inappropriate behaviour?
Yes - the alleged homophobia here is the posting the statement “X hates women”, X being argued to be the target of the behaviour, and X being a gay man. The statement itself is an accusation of misogyny, you’re right. Which is clearly fine and dandy.

Surely homophobic behaviour is about the sexuality of the person it's aimed against it the sexuality of the person with the inappropriate behaviour?

For some reason this brings to mind John Barrowman and his behaviour in exposing his genitals to women in the workplace and the argument that because he was exposing a gay cock, there's no problem at all.

But surely plenty of heterosexual men appear to hate women too, no homophobia involved?

I've never quite understood the "hates women"

Dismisses
Has contempt for
Does not respect

Seem more appropriate. Hate implies a degree of engagement that I do not recognise. To me the issue is more that women are just not even considered, not seen as important. Overlooked. Our feelings don't count. We are just sponges to soak up other people's pain.

That would be my take too GoldenBlue. But Marion Millar stands accused of malicious communication with hate crime aggravator so the prosecution must believe that a protected characteristic was targeted.

There's a precedent for a wide interpretation of that notion in the Wings/Dugdale case.