Queen Camilla's meeting with JK Rowling sparks backlash as Royal Family share message
The Royal Family has been criticized after posting a picture of Queen Camilla meeting with J.K. Rowling.
The image was shared on the UK Royal Family's social media channels on June 30, and shows the Queen Consort, 78, smiling next to the Harry Potter author, 60 at Holyroodhouse in Scotland.
It was published as part of the Queen Consort's initiatives to promote reading for children.
The caption for the post read: "With a shared passion for books and a deep commitment to children reading for pleasure, The Queen and author J.K. Rowling have met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
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"Her Majesty and Ms Rowling discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to books and the vital part reading plays in opening doors for future generations."
However the post has been met with a backlash due to it being posted on the last day of Pride Month, with members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies being opposed to Rowling's activism.
One person took to social media, writing: "on the last day of pride month as well…"
Another wrote: "What a terrible final day of Pride Month! None of them terribly surprising but still heartbreaking."
Rowling has previously donated £70,000 to anti-trans campaign group For Women Scotland to support a legal challenge the group was mounting, the Guardian reported.
This ended in the UK's Supreme Court ruling that in the UK's Equality Act 2010 'women' refers to 'biological women', with 'biological' meaning 'cisgender women'.
Rowling has denied that her views are transphobic, writing in an essay on her website: "So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe."
She added: "When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman...then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside."
The UK's Supreme Court ruling has since been followed by the publication of guidance by the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on single sex spaces.
This has been opposed by organizations advocating for transgender rights such as the Good Law Project, with the organization criticizing the guidance.
In a statement published on their website, The Good Law Project's trans rights lead Jess O’Thomson welcomed 'big changes' from previous drafts of the guidance, but still said it's 'not good enough'.
"It still treats trans people as a third sex, suggesting they should be made to use separate spaces – entirely ignoring the harm this causes, and human rights law," they wrote. "We will keep fighting this discriminatory approach.”
UNILAD has approached representatives of the Royal Family for comment.
Topics: UK News, JK Rowling, LGBTQ, Royal Family
Kit Roberts