No surprises that Wes Streeting, who took away trans people’s right to healthcare, is siding with the guy who says of trans women “punch him in the balls” if one dares use the toilet with a W on the door. I’m not even trans and I can see straight through this twat. He really needs to take his history degree and get out of the health secretary role.
Idk if it’s that trivial, as a public figure with a huge following, to tell people they should punch trans women. It’s kind of the definition of inciting violence.
he also harassed and doxxed an underage trans person
Yeah, “trivial” was too strong, but I do think that “punch them in the balls” is obviously impractical enough as not to count as a serious suggestion, particularly coming from a comedian.
I’d be surprised if CPS took it any further and shocked if he actually got a conviction. But either way this just plays into the narrative of “woke snowflakes who can’t take criticism without crying to the police”, IMO. Just look at how much of a cause célèbre Lucy Connolly has become for the right, for what was objectively a much worse tweet.
Whenever someone tried to do that to me, I took it very seriously indeed, because it wasn’t all that impractical. I’d go to great lengths to avoid a punch or kick to the plums.
I’d say a specific and actionable threat should be a prosecutable offence. I suppose it’s questionable if Linehan’s remark was specific, though it was certainly hate speech. Connolly’s tweet advocating burning down a hostel containing asylum-seekers while a hostile crowd was outside, on the other hand, was both specific and actionable. There should be a custodial sentence for that.