JK Rowling reacts to controversial Supreme Court ruling on what legally defines a woman following Trump's executive order in the US
Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the trans community which some readers may find distressing.
The Supreme Court ruled the legal definition of a woman does not include transgender women and JK Rowling has spoken out in 'pride'.
Transgender women are women, but after Britain's Supreme Court declared yesterday (Wednesday, April 16) they're not legally women in a landmark ruling - shockingly - JK Rowling has taken to her keyboard.
Rowling's comments about the trans community have lead to her facing accusations of transphobia on social media, with the author named alongside Elon Musk in a cyberbullying lawsuit filed by Olympic champion Imane Khelif.
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She's even suggested she'd rather go to prison than refer to a transgender person by their preferred pronouns and she's now taken to Twitter once again since the landmark ruling.
JK Rowling reacts to Supreme Court ruling on legal definition of a woman
The keyboard warrior has taken to Twitter to respond to the ruling to praise the 'three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK'.
She added: "@ForWomenScot, I’m so proud to know you."
Campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) brought forward the case, throwing into question whether or not somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) - a legal document in the UK that allows an individual to have their gender legally recognized as their affirmed gender- acknowledging their gender as female should be treated as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act.
Supreme Court rules legal definition of a woman refers to biological sex
Britain's highest court ultimately ruled only biological - and not transgender women - meet the legal definition of a woman under equality laws.
This means transgender women could now be excluded from single-sex women's toilets, women's sports and refuges.
Deputy President of the Supreme Court Patrick Hodge said, as quoted by Reuters: "The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms 'women' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
"But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph for one or more groups in our society at the expense of another - it is not."
Rowling however, has seen it as a 'triumph'. Alongside retweeting various other posts, she responded to an LBC broadcast questioning how people have ended up 'on the same team as' US President Donald Trump.
Rowling responded: "We had to choose between between male rapists being locked up with women and the eradication of women's single-sex spaces, even down to homeless shelters and rape crisis centres, and knowing we share a single opinion with Donald Trump. I'm comfortable with my choice."
Indeed, the ruling in the UK follows not long after Trump's administration in the US decided it will only recognize 'two sexes'.
Trump's executive order
Not long after being sworn in as the 47th President of the US, Trump signed an executive order on January 20 'defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government'.
The policy recognizes 'two sexes, male and female' and states them as not being 'changeable' but 'grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.
It reads: "Each agency and all Federal employees shall enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.
"Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages.
"Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology."
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: Donald Trump, US News, JK Rowling, LGBTQ
Poppy Bilderbeck