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J.K. Rowling says she won't forgive Harry Potter stars for disagreeing with her transphobia
“Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies," she said.
Embattled Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has declared that she has no desire to “forgive” the stars of the film franchise based on her books if they ever “apologize” for standing up against her hateful rhetoric and bigoted transphobia.
Rowling has been tweeting lately about The Cass Report, a report written by British pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass. According to Rowling, the report deemed transgender health care for young people “severe medical malpractice” that people should feel ashamed for supporting.
And if I sound angry, it's because I'm bloody angry. I read Cass this morning and my anger's been mounting all day. Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations. 5/6
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 10, 2024
“And if I sound angry, it's because I'm bloody angry. I read Cass this morning and my anger's been mounting all day. Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“The consequences of this scandal will play out for decades. You cheered it on. You did all you could to impede and misrepresent research. You tried to bully people out of their jobs for opposing you. Young people have been experimented on, left infertile and in pain,” she continued.
“The #CassReview may be a watershed moment, but it comes too late for detransitioners who’ve written me heartbreaking letters of regret,” she added, leaving out the thousands upon thousands of existing trans people who have heartbreaking stories of regret and pain that they couldn’t transition earlier.
Not safe, I'm afraid. Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 10, 2024
When one of Rowling’s supporters replied to her post saying that he was “just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology… safe in the knowledge that [Rowling] will forgive them,” Rowling decided to reply.
“Not safe, I’m afraid,” she said. “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.”
Rowling did not mention the traumatized trans people who were denied medical treatment and vulnerable trans women reliant on women’s spaces.
I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.
— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) June 10, 2020
In 2020, Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films tweeted: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
“I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are,” she added, also saying that she donated to trans charities.
That same year, Radcliffe, who played the title character, wrote an open letter to The Trevor Project addressing Rowling’s transphobia. “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I,” he said.You're hoping all GC people have long, happy lives? You hope we all live in safety and peace? Aw, that's adorable, thanks x pic.twitter.com/54OzA5ZqdF
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 10, 2024
Part of showing respect for someone’s personhood and dignity is allowing them to determine, on their own, who they are, and to ignore that right to self-determination and to misgender people is to deny them respect and dignity.
Rowling has claimed before that she hopes trans people “have long, happy lives” and “live in safety and peace,” but at the same time wants trans women banned from the only facilities and services (women’s facilities and services) that can help provide us with those things.
She also puts real life trans women in harm every day by insisting that we are men and encouraging others to do the same. When trans women are seen as men invading women’s spaces or trying to trick men into sleeping with them, people are violent towards trans women. Rowling is perhaps the spreader of these views with the largest audience.
She will never get an apology from Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, and she doesn’t deserve one. Hopefully one day, she realizes that she’s the one who owes many, many apologies.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
