JK Rowling accuses politicians of ‘snuggling up’ to trans campaigners
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JK Rowling has accused politicians of “snuggling up” to controversial transgender campaigners “to the detriment of very vulnerable children and women”.
The Harry Potter author also called for an investigation to be launched into why pro-trans groups such as Stonewall and Mermaids were given “privileged places at the table” and their language and opinions embraced by political parties.
Her comments come just days after Dr Hilary Cass, a paediatric consultant, published a review which found gender care is currently an area of “remarkably weak evidence”.
The Cass Review warned how treatment with puberty blockers “may change the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development” but critically does not change a patient’s body dissatisfaction or gender dysphoria.
The report called for “unhurried” care of those under-25s who think they may be transgender.
In a series of comments posted on social media, Rowling rounded on Stonewall, which campaigns for the LGBTQ community, and Mermaids, a transgender support group, for their parts in promoting the transgender narrative.
She wrote on Saturday: “In 2018, Stonewall literally told schools to shred a research pack saying there were risks to puberty blockers.
“In 2022 Stonewall told the world that ‘research’ suggests two-year-olds can be trans. It advocated for nurseries – NURSERIES – to start teaching kids that there are more genders than boys and girls.
“Politicians have snuggled up to Stonewall and Mermaids, given them privileged places at the table and adopted their talking points, to the detriment of very vulnerable children, young people and women.
“When are we going to see this fully investigated? When will this end?”
Gender stereotypes
Mermaids has been accused of encouraging youngsters to transition simply because they do not conform to gender stereotypes, even though they may be too young to understand the consequences.
In the wake of the Cass Review, Rowling had also criticised celebrities who “used their platforms to cheer on” the transitioning of children, suggesting she would not forgive film stars even if they apologised.
Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have both previously spoken out in support of transgender people following comments made by the author, 58.
Rowling responded to a post suggesting Radcliffe and Watson would be “safe in the knowledge” she would forgive them if they offered her a public apology.
But she replied saying: “Not safe, I’m afraid. 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”.
Rowling added: “Even if you don’t feel ashamed of cheerleading for what now looks like severe medical malpractice, even if you don’t want to accept that you might have been wrong, where’s your sense of self-preservation?” Rowling wrote, in a series of posts on Wednesday.
“The bandwagon you hopped on so gladly is hurtling towards a cliff.”
She added that the report was “not a triumph, it’s the laying bare of a tragedy”.
In June 2020, Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter throughout the eight films, put out a statement through the LGBT suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project saying “transgender women are women” and anything to the contrary “erases the identity and dignity” of people.
Watson, who played Hermione Granger, and Rupert Grint, known for the role of Ron Weasley, in the Harry Potter film series, as well as Eddie Redmayne, who stars in Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts films, also spoke up during this period.
Watson said in a series of Twitter posts in June 2020: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
“I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
Former prime minister Boris Johnson has been among Rowling’s defenders, he called her a “modern saint” who had been “demonised” at a Conservative conference in Canada on Wednesday – while saying that the majority of people agree with her views.
