Humza Yousaf is a radical leftist who serves as the head of the Scottish government. In recent years, he championed a controversial "hate crime" law, claiming its approval "sent a strong and clear message to victims, perpetrators, communities and to wide society that offenses motivated by prejudice will be treated seriously and will not be tolerated."

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act went into effect on Monday and immediately backfired for Yousaf.

According to the BBC, thousands of "hate crime" reports flooded in this week, many of which concerned a speech the leftist leader gave in 2020 bemoaning the perceived lack of diversity in the Scottish parliament.

Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown claimed these were "fake and vexatious complaints." Real or not, the complaints appear to evidence both how the law can be weaponized along with the kind of speech the government may not ultimately intend to police.

Quick background

Blaze News previously reported that the new law, passed in 2021, expands upon an existing law prohibiting the "stirring up of hatred."

Whereas previously, the law on the books banned acts that fomented "racial hatred," the new law spearheaded by Yousaf "introduces new offences for threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred based on prejudice towards characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics," according to the Scottish government.

The maximum penalty under the "hate crime" law is a prison sentence of seven years.

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Yousaf and other defenders of the law appeared unfazed by concerns expressed by religious groups, artists, journalists, and liberty campaigners about its likely impact on free expression.

Rowan Atkinson, the Briton who starred in "Mr. Bean" and "Blackadder," was among the high-profile figures who co-signed a letter in 2020 stressing that the "unintended consequences of this well meaning bill risk stifling freedom of expression, and the ability to articulate or criticise religious and other beliefs," reported the Scotsman.

The letter noted that intent under the law wouldn't matter; that the thin-skinned need only perceive offense to call upon the state to clamp down on an individual over their speech, action, or artwork.

The Catholic Church in Scotland was similarly critical of the legislation ahead of its passing.

The Catholic Parliamentary Office, founded by the Scottish bishops, stated, "There should be no threat of prosecution for expressing the belief that, for example, there are only two sexes or genders; that a man cannot become a woman and vice versa; or that marriage can only be between one man and one woman," adding, "nobody ought to be criminalized for using a person's birth name or pronoun."

Backlash

A multitude of complaints about Yousaf's June 10, 2020, speech reportedly poured in this week, including a false claim made in Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown's name, according to the BBC.

"I was surprised myself on Monday to receive a call from Police Scotland about my complaint," said Brown. "This was a fake complaint someone had done anonymously in my name, and gave my office number."

Speaking weeks after George Floyd's death, Yousaf said, "I am angry that in 2020 we are still dealing with overt racism, subtle racism, institutional racism and structural racism. Whatever form it takes, it is still racism."

"Forget the racial jibes and the slurs that we still have to put up with; racism is literally killing minorities, as we have all seen, and as members have all said today," said Yousaf. "Scotland has a problem of structural racism. As members have said, we can take the Parliament as an example."

Yousaf complained that in Scotland — where 96% of the population is white and a combined 4% of the population is Asian, black, mixed, or of other ethnic groups — "there has not been a single black member of the Scottish Parliament, to our shame; there has not been a single woman NSP of color, to our shame; and the only four ethnic minority MSPs have all been Scots Asian males."

Yousaf then went on to list and emphasize the race of the individuals in various political positions in Scotland. After noting they were white, he said, "That is not good enough."

The future first minister also complained in his speech that the meetings he attended largely reflected the demographics of the country his parents freely chose to immigrate to, noting, "Some people have been surprised or taken aback by my mention on my social media that at 99 per cent of the meetings that I go to, I am the only non-white person in the room."

When his speech went viral again years later, Yousaf tweeted, "Racists foaming at the mouth at my very existence."

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The Daily Mail reported that a Police Scotland spokesman had confirmed complaints specifically cited Yousaf's 2020 speech.

"We have received a number of complaints in relation to a speech in the Scottish Parliament on June 10, 2020," said the spokesman. "Earlier complaints regarding this matter were assessed at the time and it was established no crime was committed and no further action was required."

Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown told BBC Radio Scotland, "There has been a lot of misinformation and hysteria regarding this bill being introduced."

"I think this shows the publicity and misinformation that's out there about this Act, that people are making fake and vexatious complaints," added Brown.

Yousaf told the BBC that complaints must meet a high threshold before police will act, reported the Scottish Daily Express.

"Those new offences that have been created by the act have a very high threshold for criminality. The behaviour has to be threatening or abusive and intends to stir up hatred. So it doesn't deal with people just being offended or upset or insulted," said Yousaf.

A number of the complaints filed this week also flagged remarks made by J.K. Rowling that were critical of gender ideology and LGBT activism.

Rowling tweeted on Monday, "I'm currently out of the country, but if what I've written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment," adding the hashtag #ArrestMe.

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