Scottish sex shop hits back at 'knee-jerk' reaction to hate crime reporting service

A sex shop has hit back at criticism over it being a third party reporting centre for hate crime

The co-founders of a sex shop at the centre of a social media storm have hit back at a “knee-jerk reaction” to them offering a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community in Glasgow for the past decade.

Luke and Jack, located in Glasgow’s Merchant City district, has been the target of concerns raised about the new hate crime laws being rolled out next month – after the business was listed as a third party reporting centre. But the business confirmed it had been a third party reporting centre for hate crime for the past decade.

To help members of the public report incidents of hate crime, Police Scotland has designated numerous sites as ‘third party reporting centres’, with most being based in community buildings such as citizens’ advice bureaux, housing associations, libraries and council buildings.

The Luke and Jack outlet in Glasgow has been designated as a third party reporting centre by Police Scotland. Picture: Google Maps

Tory MSP Annie Wells said that “serious questions must be asked as to who thought a sex shop was an appropriate setting to report a hate crime” and called on Police Scotland to “drop this shop from their reporting centres as a matter of urgency”.

Ian Diamond, who co-founded the business, told The Scotsman the shop was “a safe space for people to come in and actually talk”.

He said: “In retail, people come in and tell you their life story. The nature of the business is that sometimes those stories take on a sexual element as well. Being a safe space means that people have told us quite harrowing things that have happened to them which could be described as hate crimes.”

Mr Diamond described the criticism on social media as a “knee-jerk reaction” by people “almost having a laugh at the expense of others”.

He said: “Although Scotland is a very lefty political country, it’s actually incredibly conservative when it comes to attitudes to sex. It’s always a bit of an over-reaction to the subject matter by people who are not doing any research.

“It would be nice for people to be able to talk about sex without shaming others. But I think we’re a long way off public discourse on sex and sexuality being sane.”

Mr Diamond warned that “because LGBTQ+ services are almost non-existent”, his business was “often filling that gap”. He said: “There used to be a LGBTQ+ centre in Glasgow, but that doesn’t exist anymore.

“We have been recommended for LGBTQ+ people, but that’s not the only characteristic that we have offered that service for.”

His partner and co-founder of Luke and Jack, Drew Bigglestone, said he would have to “look at increasing security” because of the backlash on social media.

He said: “We were partially invited to do it because no-one else was meeting the LGBTQ+ needs as a walk-in safe place because funding had shifted.”

Addressing Ms Wells raising concerns about the suitability of his business to be a third party reporting service, Mr Bigglestone said: “That MSP has no clue at the diversity, the skillsets and the background of our staff.

“Our staff would actually make sure that they would suss something out and research it before they say something disparaging against her. Perhaps she should be doing the same.”