Though there are many politicians, public figures, and hate groups campaigning against the existence of trans people, few have been as consistent and disappointing as author J.K. Rowling. After writing seven young adult novels called Harry Potter (you may have heard of them), and a few other books under an alias, Rowling is worth a whopping £820 million. After the books became movies throughout the earlier aughts, Rowling’s fantasy world of witchcraft and wizardry blew up, it turned into a theme park at Universal Studios in Orlando and series that children and adults would read and watch for years to come.
In recent years though, her books have come under scrutiny for biased and bigoted depictions of characters from different cultures, often based in stereotypes. However, not many could have predicted the near constant campaign of hate she now champions against trans people. Rowling has released statements explaining her position, which in short is: trans people are a threat to cisgender women, young people ,and gay people. In Rowling’s first statement released in June of 2020, she seemed to think that trans women had an agenda of violence against cisgender women in shared public spaces like bathrooms or changing rooms.
Without numbers or statistics to support her claims, Rowling said she was concerned for the number of trans people who have detransitioned, and pointed to the idea that because it may have happened once, that entire friend groups were transitioning together, all being driven by each other in some sort of “trend” to endure years of difficulty with gender dysphoria and transitional medical treatments, etc.
Rowling first received public backlash when she tweeted support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who had been fired from her job for posting transphobic tweets. Trans activists were quick to speak out against Rowling for using her platform to promote transphobia.
She infamously tweeted: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth,”
“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women—i.e., to male violence—‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences—is a nonsense.”
In response to her many tweets, one user wrote “Harry Potter is about the magic of love, acceptance, belonging. The power of courage. The impact of hope. Trying to take those things away from people is a terrible tragedy. Trans women are women.”
Since then, Rowling hasn’t stopped standing on her anti-trans soapbox, telling everyone why she can’t support trans people, and trans women in particular, as if they all pose some constant threat to cisgender women. In fact she has doubled down, donating around €70,000 to an anti-trans group called For Women Scotland, earlier this year.
She has also made a point this year to speak out against trans women participating in sports, or at least that’s what she was trying to do when she bullied Olympic boxer Imane Khelif into suing her. Khelif faced a slew of backlash for competing against women as a transgender woman, it was eventually learned that Khelif was not trans, but the hate continued.
Most recently, according to Them, Rowling has gone after transgender paralympic sprinter Valentina Petrillo, who made history during the Games in Paris as the first out trans woman to compete in a Paralympic track event. She tweeted about Petrillo “Why all the anger about the inspirational Petrillo? The cheat community has never had this kind of visibility! Out and proud cheats like Petrillo prove the era of cheat-shaming is over. What a role model! I say we give Lance Armstrong his medals back and move on. #Cheats #NoShame.”
It seems that Rowling herself has no shame when it comes to harassing people who have been through enough. Though Rowling has acknowledged that for some people who suffer from gender dysphoria, transitioning is the answer, she still spews hate online.
