Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community some readers may find distressing
Author J. K. Rowling has issued a scathing statement after three Harry Potter stars signed an open pro-transgender letter following a recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court.
On April 16, judges stated that the legal definition of a woman was based on biological sex.
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The landmark ruling outlined that a person who was not born as a biological female could not obtain the legal protections the Act affords to women by changing their gender with a Gender Recognition Certificate.
As per BBC, the Act however, still provides transgender people with protection against discrimination, with Dr Michael Foran, a lecturer in public law at Glasgow University, explaining: "They are protected under our equality law.”
Following the UK Supreme Court’s bombshell decision, Harry Potter writer Joanne Kathleen Rowling, 59, known best by her pen name J. K. Rowling, celebrated the ruling.
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She called it the TERF version of VE Day on social media and also wrote: “Women have fought (and are still fighting) the single biggest land grab on their rights in my lifetime.
"Some have sacrificed their livelihoods and safety to combat a pernicious ideology that has infiltrated elite institutions, including government."
In the days that followed, celebrities came out in their droves to sign a pro-transgender open letter.
Eddie Redmayne, 43, who played Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts films, Katie Leung, 37, best known for portraying Cho Chang in the Harry Potter flicks and Paapa Essiedu, 34, set to star as Severus Snape in the magical HBO reboot, were among the famous names to sign the script.
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On Saturday (May 3), Rowling called out the 'back-stabbing colleagues' who decided to sign the letter in an essay posted to social media.
“In light of recent open letters from academia and the arts criticising the UK’s Supreme Court ruling on sex-based rights, it’s possibly worth remembering that nobody sane believes, or has ever believed, that humans can change sex, or that binary sex isn’t a material fact,” the author wrote.
“These letters do nothing but remind us of what we know only too well: that pretending to believe these things has become an elitist badge of virtue.”
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She continued to argue that 'signatories of these sorts of letters are motivated by fear'.
“Fear for their careers, of course, but also fear of their co-religionists, who include angry, narcissistic men who threaten and sometimes enact violence on non-believers; back-stabbing colleagues ever ready to report wrongthink; the online shamers and doxxers and rape threateners, and, of course, the influential zealots in the upper echelons of liberal professions.”
In a further update, Rowling has made her stance on Eddiedu signing the open letter crystal clear.
On Monday (May 5), she shared a recent headline from the Scottish Daily Express: “JK Rowling won’t have new Harry Potter TV star sacked despite defiance.”
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In response, the mother-of-three typed: “I don’t have the power to sack an actor from the series and I wouldn’t exercise it if I did,” she typed on Twitter. “I don’t believe in taking away people’s jobs or livelihoods because they hold legally protected beliefs that differ from mine.”
Rowling’s latest comments come after she famously blasted Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson for opposing her transgender views.
Radcliffe, 35, who portrayed Harry Potter in all eight of the original Warner Bros. films and Watson, 35, who starred as Hermione, have both pledged their support to the transgender community in the past.
Their subsequent comments came after Rowling posted in 2023 that she would ‘happily’ do jail time rather than refer to someone by their preferred pronouns.
This comment led Radcliffe to issue an apology to the trans community for the ‘pain’ the comments caused, while Watson assured fans there were: “So many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
Rowling addressed the pair’s comments after she saw a message that read: “Waiting for Dan and Emma to give [her] a very public apology ... safe in the knowledge that [she] will forgive them.”
“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,” she replied in 2024.
On March 17, Rowling seemingly reignited her feud with Radcliffe and Watson and also possibly took aim at Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint, 36.
In response to a post which read: "What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?", the star replied: “Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.
Topics: JK Rowling, Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, HBO, Film and TV, Transgender, Health, Celebrity
Ella Scott