Britain’s left-wing Labour Party – leading in polls ahead of an imminent general election – has warned that deliberately “misgendering” a transgender person may be punishable by up to two years imprisonment under its potential government.
The party, led by Sir Keir Starmer, is planning to raise criticism of someone’s gender identity to an “aggravated offense” in an effort to combat the abuse against transgenders. The policy would make perceived transgender abuse comparable to assaulting or attacking another on grounds of race or religion, which are imprisonable offenses of up to two years.
“Thousands of women dispute the notion of ‘gender identity’ and particularly the idea that it should be prioritised over biological sex,” said Caroline Ffiske from the UK group Conservatives for Women.
“Is there a risk with this policy that a woman could be accused of harassment for correctly sexing a man and then for that to be treated as an aggravated offence?” she added.
Notably, the law of England and Wales does not require a transgender to actually be assaulted or abused but rather “perceive” any potential hostility from another due to how they identify themselves.
The law does not even provide a definition of “hostility;” instead, it uses an “everyday understanding” of the word, such as ill-will, spite, contempt, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment, and dislike.
