Incitement to hatred
Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
Parliament passed important new legal protections against incitement to hatred on grounds of sexual orientation on Wednesday 7 May 2008. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill received Royal Assent on 8 May, another historic step towards legal equality.
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 voted, by 178 votes to 164, to retain an amendment to the Bill that Stonewall believes is unnecessary and could mean that a very small number of people of extreme views attempt to avoid prosecution by citing a 'religious defence'. We will work hard to press Ministers, the Crown Prosecution Service and police forces to ensure that this defence is not deployed unscrupulously by those who incite hatred.
During earlier debates in the House of Lords there were also distressing, and completely gratuitous, references to sodomy and young people. The tone and unpleasantness of the debates in recent weeks have been a very stark reminder of how many veteran opponents of equality there still are in both Houses of Parliament.
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 did we need 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.
The Crown Prosecution Service recently confirmed that prosecutions for homophobic hate crimes increased by 168% in the past two years. Those prosecutions included that of the killers of Jody Dobrowski, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the 24-year old's brutal murder in south London. Both police and the CPS acknowledged that the murder was motivated solely by anti-gay hatred.
What the new laws cover…
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.
And what the new laws will not cover…
There have been some alarmist claims in recent months 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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