J.K. Rowling sure has a lot to say about trans people.
At this point, I think her word count for transphobic tweets and essays is greater than that of the Harry Potter series. It’s at least a couple Deathly Hallows‘ worth. For someone who vehemently hates the transgender community as much as she does, she’s kind of obsessed with us. What’s going on there, J.K.? We don’t want anything to do with you. Stop negging us. It’s embarrassing.
I doubt that she’s going to get the message. She hasn’t for years. It’s sad, honestly. Rowling has been doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on her shitty points of view for so long that I don’t even think that she’s living on the same planet as us anymore. She’s becoming exactly like the people she once claimed to hate. For someone who despises American conservatism as much as Rowling does, she sure is cozying up to one of their main party platforms: eliminate trans people from the face of the Earth.
Sounds like an exaggeration? It isn’t. Trump has vowed to invalidate all identification cards of people who have legally changed their gender, prosecute doctors who provide gender-affirming healthcare, and basically make it impossible for a trans people to have basic human rights unless they detransition. But we’re not talking about Trump. Ironically, we’re talking about one of his biggest critics. I guess they have a lot more in common than they thought.
Where do we even begin?
It all started during the worst year in recent memory: 2020. If you thought that year couldn’t have been any worse, J.K. Rowling made it her full-time job to prove you wrong. Rowling, dicking around on the internet because apparently she had nothing else to do, discovered a tweet that mentioned “people who menstruate.” She took offense the way only an ignorant person on the internet could. “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she tweeted back.
The rest of the internet was quick to shut her down, criticizing her reckless decision to sweep the trans community under the rug. Rowling held on to the broomstick harder than Harry at Quidditich: “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.” That’s always how hatred starts, isn’t it? “I love the X community, BUT …”
After a few more licks of healthy internet criticism, she forgot about that love entirely.
A trans hate highlight reel
I wanna give a big special thanks to the people at GLAAD for putting compiling all this nastiness in one place. There’s so much of it that it’s hard to keep track of it all. Let’s start with some real winners, shall we?
She mocked transgender inclusivity on International Women’s Day. “Apparently, under a Labour government, today will become We Who Must Not Be Named Day.” There’s something especially wack about referencing her own book in a put-down. It’s like smelling your own farts.
She wrote an essay that detailed “five reasons for being worried about the new trans activism,” that expressed her “deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement” is having on children and the education system. She claimed that there is a “huge explosion in young women wishing to transition” or “detransitioning,” even though research shows that the number of young people who identify as L, G, B, or Q is growing at an equal rate as the T community. Furthermore, research indicates that the number of people detransitioning is extremely low, as detransition is a rare occurrence caused by a variety of factors. And do you know what one of those factors is, J.K.? Transphobia! That’s right! People like you make life such a living hell for trans kids that some decide to detransition (or never come out of the closet at all) in order to ensure their physical and emotional safety.
Rowling tweeted a slew of false information regarding trans-related medical care. “Many health professionals are concerned that young people struggling with their mental health are being shunted towards hormones and surgery when this may not be in their best interests,” Rowling wrote. She also called the transition process “a new conversion therapy for young gay people” and claimed it to be “driven by homophobia.” Wow, J.K., in one fell swoop you managed to misunderstand homophobia, the transition process as a whole, and what it means to be gay versus what it means to be trans. Sorting hat’s off to you.
Rowling tweeted “Big love to you xxx” to Caroline Farrow. Who is Caroline Farrow? She is an anti-trans, anti-gay, and anti-abortion activist whose hobbies include doxing trans women, getting banned from entering the U.S. and blaming LGBTQ people for it, and making fun of adorable gay penguins.
Rowling expressed support for a tax-specialist who posted anti-trans tweets and claims that she was fired for it. Rowling tweeted “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?” This tweet is especially nasty. Really, the part that gets me is the “any consenting adult who will have you,” as if she’s implying that trans people are so disgusting that only a select few of those consenting adults would choose to “have” a trans person anyway. And that we’re so desperate we’ll just take anyone.
As rich as you are J.K., you couldn’t PAY a trans person enough money to so much as give you a backwards glance. On second thought, we’ll be happy to take your money. There would be a delicious irony in using your Bigot Bucks to fund a lavish trans lifestyle.
The list goes on. With nothing but time and money on her hands, J.K. Rowling has chosen to spend both dying on hill after anti-trans hill. And you know what? She’s perfectly within her rights to do that. I just wish that she would stop insisting that we all watch. It’s a depressing cry for attention at this point.
(featured image: John Phillips, Getty Images)
