IAIN Macwhirter missed a couple of key points in his comment piece on the use of offensive language (“My word: Is it nowadays a crime merely to be offensive?”, The Herald, September 22).

For a group to call themselves Dykes on Bikes or Four Poofs and a Piano is not offensive, because they have chosen to use that word about themselves. They are reclaiming a term of abuse as self-description. But if I use the same word towards someone who finds it offensive, the fact that I am a gay man myself does not excuse my offence to them – I still owe them an apology. Before you use such words, you need to be sure that the person you're using them about, and others who hear you, won't be offended.

Mr Macwhirter has also misunderstood the difference between what the police call a hate incident, and a hate crime. Any incident reported to the police that involves the use of racist, sectarian or homophobic language is classified as a hate incident so that it can be investigated without overlooking the possibility it was motivated by prejudice. But that does not make it a crime. For a homophobic incident to be a crime in Scotland, it must first be a crime, full stop: an assault, threatening behaviour that causes fear or alarm, vandalism, and so on. If it is a crime, only then can it also be a hate crime, if the evidence is that it was motivated by prejudice.

Particular words are not criminalised; they are not even always offensive. It is all in the context, including the effect on others and the motive of the speaker.

Tim Hopkins,

Equality Network,

30 Bernard Street, Edinburgh.