JK Rowling slams Scottish leader as destroying ‘women’s rights’ with gender bill
J.K. Rowling has in-shirt-ed herself into a new transgender controversy.
The outspoken “Harry Potter” author posted a photo of herself Thursday wearing a T-shirt calling a UK politician behind a controversial gender-identity reform a “destroyer of women’s rights.”
Rowling — who has faced death threats over previous comments accused of being transphobic — proudly wore the garment to “stand in solidarity” with protests before a hearing of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.
If made law, the reform will allow people to be “legally recognized in their acquired gender” — and issued a new birth certificate — without a medical diagnosis.
Rowling’s black T-shirt had a mocked-up dictionary definition for Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, describing her as a noun meaning “destroyer of women’s rights.”
“I stand in solidarity with @ForWomenScot and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish parliament,” she said of the protest leaders.
The group replied with a retweet saying, “Thank you, sister!”
The controversial bill would lower the age of those applying for status under a different gender from 18 to 16. Applicants would only need to declare that they have lived under the new gender for three months — rather than two years — and would be spared the “demeaning, intrusive, distressing and stressful” need for medical reports.
Although Rowling did not elaborate on her specific objections, For Women Scotland — the group she supported — insists that there are “only two sexes, that a person’s sex is not a choice, nor can it be changed.”
“Women are entitled to dignity, safety and fairness,” the group insists.
Rowling also shared a thread from a “thinker, teacher and writer” who suggested the bill was “batshit crazy.”
That poster repeatedly used the hashtag #NoMenInWomensSpaces over protesters’ fears that the bill would allow biological men in women’s bathrooms and private areas, calling the planned reform “a horror-show for women and children.”
“I see things that are happening to women and children (and vulnerable men) and I can’t say them, think them through with others, or write about them without fear. Enough of this,” insisted the tweets shared by Rowling.
“The recognition and protection of my material reality as an LGB woman is under threat. A woman is nothing more than a declaration; same-sex attraction is bigotry and I must be educated out of it. Enough of this,” she wrote.
“We will not sit quietly while you dismantle our rights. … It’s time. Enough is enough.”
Rowling’s T-shirt tweet was particularly defiant given the vitriolic cancel-culture attacks she’s had since June 2020, when she sarcastically responded to an article about “Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
“’People who menstruate,’” she tweeted snarkily. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
Since then, she has repeatedly been damned as a TERF — an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist — with even many of the stars of the “Harry Potter” movies distancing themselves from her comments.
Potter has repeatedly doubled down, insisting it is “nonsense” to suggest that she must “‘hate’ trans people” because she believes “sex is real and has lived consequences.”
“I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female,” she tweeted amid the height of her backlash. “I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”