Humza Yousaf's robust defence came as David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, warned that enforcing the act would "certainly" reduce public trust in the police, and as JK Rowling, a prominent critic of the legislation, dared the police to arrest her for misgendering.
The Scottish government has consistently said that misgendering a transgender person is not criminalised by the new law.
Yousaf said that the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which is intended to consolidate existing hate crime laws and was supported by Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats MSPs as well as the Scottish National party, "absolutely protects people in their freedom of expression, but guards people from a rising tide of hatred that we've seen far too often in our society".
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