‘Transgender women are women’

LOS ANGELES: Reacting to author JK Rowling’s controversial tweets on transgender people, ‘Harry Potter’ star Daniel Radcliffe argued that “transgender women are women” and it has now become more important than ever to “not cause further harm” to the community.

On June 6, Rowling drew outrage on ‘Twitter’ when she criticised an opinion piece that used the phrase “people who menstruate” and posited that discussion of gender identity invalidates biological sex.

Radcliffe, who played the titular boy wizard in the film franchise based on the British author’s bestselling books for 10 years, penned his thoughts in an essay for the website of ‘Trevor Project’, a non-profit dedicated to crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ people.

In the beginning of the article published recently, the 30-year-old actor also acknowledged that the media may paint his statement as “in-fighting” between him and Rowling.

While he was clear that the writer was “unquestionably responsible” for the course of his life, he felt the need to speak out, he explained.

“As someone who has been honoured to work with and continues to contribute to ‘The Trevor Project’ for the last decade and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment. Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I,” Radcliffe added.

The British actor cited that 78 per cent of transgender and non-binary youth reported that they had been discriminated against due to their gender identity.

“It is clear that we need to do more to support them.”