JK Rowling’s tweets on transgenders spark outrage

LOS ANGELES: ‘Harry Potter’ author JK Rowling started facing hefty backlash after she posted a series of tweets about transgender people.

Rowling drew outrage on ‘Twitter’ when she criticised an opinion piece from Devex that used the phrase “people who menstruate.”

“I’m sure there used to be a word for those people,” the famous British author tweeted.

“Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she continued with another thread speaking about the concept of biological sex.

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no samesex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love transgender people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hateful to speak the truth,” she tweeted.

Rowling’s tweets caused a firestorm of responses from the LGBTQ community and others who were upset with her words.

Rowling said she respects “every trans person’s rights to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them.”

The ‘Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation’ (GLAAD) issued a response on ‘Twitter’, calling Rowling’s tweets “inaccurate and cruel.”

“JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are transgender. In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting transgender people,” ‘GLAAD’ tweeted.

Rowling’s representative had not responded to an email request for comment.