Teenager allegedly seized trans person by the throat during hate attack in Indian takeaway
The outside of the Indian takeaway (far left) where the alleged hate attack took place. (Google Maps)
An 18-year-old is to stand trial for allegedly seizing a trans person by the arm and throat in a hate attack in a takeaway shop in Scotland.
Todd Campbell is facing trial for the alleged hate attack, which happened at House of Singh in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, a town 30 miles south-west of Glasgow.
His trial will be held at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.
He is also accused of making offensive comments to his victim, which the prosecuting lawyers say were aggravated by “prejudice relating to transgender identity”.
The trial will begin in May.
Huge increase in hate crimes against trans people.
The number of hate crimes against trans people recorded by police in England, Scotland and Wales increased by 81% between 2016/17 and 2017/18.
According to statistics obtained by the BBC, there were 1,944 crimes across 36 UK police forces in the last financial year — up from 1,073 in 2016-17.
Increases of hate-crime reports are frequently rationalised as being due to improved reporting practices, but the surge in anti-trans crimes is well above the increase for reports based on every single other protected characteristic.
Scotland holds second consultation on proposed changes to gender recognition laws.
In December, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon published a draft bill to reform gender recognition laws and launched a second public consultation – despite strong opposition within her Scottish National Party.
The draft bill sets out a new devolved process to replace the UK-wide system of gender recognition – which would end the need to provide medical evidence to a gender recognition panel.
Instead, trans people would be required to make “a solemn statutory declaration” to Scotland’s registrar general to gain a gender recognition certificate, the mechanism by which trans people can change the gender on their birth certificates.
The bill would also reduce the period of time it takes to gain legal recognition from two years to six months, and would lower the minimum age of legal gender recognition from 18 to 16.
However, the bill does not include any provisions for legal recognition of non-binary people or under 16s, and does not commit to eliminating the cost of applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate – though the Scottish government insists “it is likely that any fee would be considerably lower” than the current £140 charge.
The draft bill is dated 2021, indicating that the proposals may not be brought forward for at least a year. The formal consultation on the bill closes in March 2020.
Stonewall has written guidance on filling out the online consultation form.
