By Ex-police officer wins legal battle over alleged transphobic tweets
Ex-police officer Harry Miller has won a legal battle after his alleged transphobic tweets were listed as non-crime ‘hate incidents’ by Humberside Police.
The Lincolnshire man posted several alleged transphobic tweets between November 2018 and January 2019 at a time when reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 was being considered.
One tweet read: “I was assigned mammal at birth, but my orientation is fish. Don’t mis-species me.”
Miller expressed to the courts that he had a right to share his opinion, even if it was offensive, without it being an offence.
At the time of the incident (January 2020), a national policy dictated that forces should record views which are critical of gender as non-crime hate incidents.
Miller argued that this resulted in him being stripped of his right to freedom of speech.
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the policy was used incorrectly with Miller as his alleged transphobic tweets were not targeted harassment, malicious, hostile or prejudiced.
Miller told the BBC: “Being offensive is one of the fundamental aspects, it’s one of the cornerstones of freedom, because a freedom that does not allow offence is not a freedom worth having.”
He indicated that the world should not only allow opinions that we all agree with and should stick to the path of democracy.
A variety of voices open up much-needed discussions where people can decide for themselves what they believe in and what they do not.
The court decided that the College of Policing’s rules focused too much on perception over hard evidence.
There is currently no limit excluding ‘irrational complaints’ from this offence, even if there is no evidence of hostility.
The High Court ruled in February 2020 that Humberside Police’s response to Miller’s alleged transphobic tweets were unlawful.
He won the right to have his freedom of expression back.
The College of Policing now has to figure out new ‘safeguards’ when recording future non-crimes so that incidents like this do not happen again.
Miller reiterated that he would like the police to continue to respond to genuine hate speech.
(Image: BBC)
