Megyn Kelly warns 'America is heading for a woke showdown like Scotland' after JK Rowling was threatened with arrest over her trans tweets

Megyn Kelly has warned America could go the same way as Scotland where JK Rowling has been threatened with arrest under a new law protecting transgender people from 'hate speech.'

The former Fox star has offered to be the Scottish author's voice if her claims that men cannot become women are silenced by her country's new law.

Kelly warned the US is following the same path with 'far too many blue states are coming dangerously close to Scotland.'

'Make no mistake – we are heading for a showdown here, too, on this issue,' she warned, 'and it's imperative that we win.'

Scotland's new law adds transgenderism to the category of legally protected characteristics, making it a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison to 'stir up hate' against someone on the basis of their gender identity.

Rowling dared police to arrest her as the act came into force, tweeting a long and ironic 'April Fool' thread criticizing a series of transgender criminals, activists and sportspeople.

'Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren't women at all, but men, every last one of them,' she added.

Rowling, who lives in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, was immediately reported to police when the law came into force on Monday, but Kelly told her she could still say what she wants in the US.

'Whatever true fact you need said about the gender cult, just shoot me a note and I will say it on the air on my show to millions,' the podcaster offered.

'Scotland can't imprison those of us on this side of the pond; (for now) we still have free speech in America, which is why I can say: Men cannot become women. He's are not she's.

'Those surgical wounds are not vaginas. Facial feminization will never make a man female. Men who play women's sports are vile cheaters.

'Men do not belong in women's bathrooms, locker rooms, sororities, prisons or OBGYN offices. Men cannot have babies. Chest feeding is child abuse.'

Scotland's new law does not recognize women as a protected category and has been fiercely divisive in the UK with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisting that 'people should not be criminalized for stating simple facts on biology'.

'In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls,' Rowling wrote.

'The new legislation is wide open to abuse by activists who wish to silence those of us speaking out about the dangers of eliminating women's and girls' single-sex spaces, the nonsense made of crime data if violent and sexual assaults committed by men are recorded as female crimes, the grotesque unfairness of allowing males to compete in female sports, the injustice of women's jobs, honors and opportunities being taken by trans-identified men, and the reality and immutability of biological sex.'

Rowling, who has made an estimated $1 billion fortune from her series of children's books on the boy wizard, has become one of the UK' most prominent figures in the debate on transgender rights since she started speaking out in 2018.

She has received death threats and a torrent of abuse on social media for her views which have also seen the stars of her movie franchise - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint - distance themselves from her.

She was notably absent from a 2022 Warner Bros special commemorating the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter film's release amid speculation that her stance was threatening her relationship with the studio.

But that seemed to be put to rest the following year by the signing of a decade-long Harry Potter TV project that could net her $20 million a year.

Kelly expanded on her tweet with a damning tirade on her Sirius XM show claiming that 'free speech is officially dead in Scotland'.

'Scotland! Which is literally known for the physical and mental toughness of its people,' she marveled.

'A country famous for its never-ending grey and gloomy weather – in one area years ago they only got 36 minutes of sunshine in a month – seriously, the Scots are bad-ass.

'Now, if their little feelings get hurt, someone's getting arrested? And could go to jail for up to seven years! What are we doing?

'Moms worried about auto-gynephiles – those who get sexually aroused by cross-dressing – changing in their daughters' locker rooms and getting erections in their miniskirts, can't say a word about it without potentially facing criminal threat.

'Their status as women earns them ZERO special rights, despite the fact that 91% of victims of rape and sexual assault are female. Nearly 99% of perpetrators are male. 

'But if these males say they're female, you see, you need to STFU and accept it or you're the one who could be headed to prison in Scotland. This is madness.' 

Scottish police have warned that the law could leave them besieged by vexatious complaints.

'Our concern is that it could impact through a huge uplift, potentially, in reports – some of those potentially made in good faith but perhaps not meeting the threshold of the legislation,' said Rob Hay, president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents.

'Or potentially in cases where people are trying to actually actively use the legislation to score points against people who sit on the other side of a particularly controversial debate.'

Rowling's comments came after Siobhian Brown, Scotland's minister for community safety, said those who misgender others online, calling a trans woman 'he', for example, 'could be investigated' by police.

Rowling was reported to police in England last month for calling trans TV broadcaster India Willoughby a 'man.' Police later said the complaint did not meet the criminal threshold.

Authorities in Scotland said Rowling remains safe for the time being.

'We have received complaints in relation to the social media post. The comments are not assessed to be criminal and no further action will be taken,' a Police Scotland spokesman explained.

Rowling said of the police response: 'I hope every woman in Scotland who wishes to speak up for the reality and importance of biological sex will be reassured by this announcement, and I trust that all women - irrespective of profile or financial means - will be treated equally under the law.'