Mrs Braverman added that police should not appease politically-contested views, adding: “So, for example, when a child accidentally scuffs a Koran, the police should not be investigating that as a crime in an attempt to engage with communities. We don’t have blasphemy laws in England and Wales, and it’s not the police’s job to enforce non-existent religious blasphemy laws.”
She insisted that “in no instance” was it biologically or legally right for a rapist to be described as “she”, as police forces have done in some cases.
“Not only is that wrong because a woman cannot legally be a rapist, but also it’s grossly insensitive and insulting to the victims of rape who are biological women,” she said.
Mrs Braverman said forces should not be “policing tweets which express gender-critical views, or turning up to arrest someone who says a man can’t be a woman”. Those with gender-critical views believe biological sex cannot be changed.
She said officers waving the Pride rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBT+ community, police cars in Pride colours, or police taking the knee at Black Lives Matter events were “unacceptable expressions of partisanship”.
Instead, she said police should adopt “strict neutrality even if that may mean offending some parts of society”.
Mrs Braverman also disclosed that the Home Office had axed all contracts with Stonewall, which campaigns on LGBT issues.