Norwegian feminist faces jail for saying a biological male cannot be a lesbian

A Norwegian feminist is being investigated by police for tweets that are allegedly hateful towards a trans woman, under Norwegian hate crime laws.

Christina Ellingsen, who represents the feminist organisation Women’s Declaration International, could be sentenced to up to three years in prison for tweets directed towards Christine Marie Jentoft, a representative of Foreningen FRI, a trans activism group.

In a reply to a tweet by Jentoft, Ellingsen wrote: “Why [does] FRI teach young people that males can be lesbians? Isn’t that conversion therapy?”

In a second tweet, the Norwegian feminist wrote: “Jentoft, who is male and an advisor in FRI, presents himself as a lesbian – that’s how bonkers the organization which supposedly works to protect young lesbians’ interests is. How does it help young lesbians when males claim to be lesbian, too?” 

Jentoft, who identifies as a woman, also claims to be a mother. Elingsen had previously criticised Jentoft on national television, saying: “You are a man. You cannot be a mother. To normalise the idea that men can be mothers is a defined form of discrimination against women.”

Hate speech was made illegal in Norway in 2020. The bill, which was approved by the Norwegian legislative body without a second vote, expanded the penal code in favour of the LGBT+ community for the first time since 1981.

The expansion means that people found guilty of hate speech conducted in public could be jailed for up to three years.

Opponents of the bill claimed that it would infringe on free speech, criminalising criticism against LGBT+ rights.

A similar bill was passed in Scotland in 2021, extending protection to vulnerable groups based on their sexuality and gender identity.

Concerns have been raised that the bill does not create a balance between freedom of expression and protection from hate, instead that it sets a dangerous precedent against free speech in the West.