JK Rowling’s new transphobia fury
Author returns human rights award in row
JK ROWLING has vowed to return a human rights award linked to the powerful Kennedy family in the US after they accused the Harry Potter author of being ‘transphobic’.
She was given the Ripple of Hope honour by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights (RFKFR) group last year for her work with her children’s charity Lumos.
But RFKR president Kerry Kennedy – the daughter of assassinated senator Robert F Kennedy – later accused Miss Rowling of ‘undermining the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community’ after she wrote about the dangers of trans activism.
Miss Rowling, 55, said Miss Kennedy’s claim that she is transphobic is ‘incorrect’ and rejected accusations that she has caused ‘harm’ to trans people. On her website, she wrote: ‘ In solidarity with those who have contacted me but who are struggling to make their voices heard – and because of the very serious conflict of views between myself and RFKHR – I feel I have no option but to return the Ripple of Hope award bestowed upon me last year. I am deeply saddened that RFKHR has felt compelled to adopt this stance, but no award or honour – no matter my admiration for the person for whom it was named – means so much to me that I would forfeit the right to follow the dictates of my own conscience.’
Previous winners of the award, who have shown a ‘commitment to social change’, include former US leader Barack Obama, current presidential contender Joe Biden and South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Miss Rowling claimed that an ‘ethical and medical scandal is brewing’ as she accused ‘organisations and individuals who have uncritically embraced fashionable dogma and demonised those urging caution’ of causing ‘harm’.
She noted that ‘thousands of women’ had got in touch with her to show their support as she called for a more nuanced debate, adding she had been particularly ‘struck by the stories of brave de-transitioned young women who’ve risked the opprobrium of activists by speaking up about a movement they say has harmed them’.
She said she refuses ‘to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode “woman” as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it’.
Miss Kennedy, 60, niece of assassinated US President John F Kennedy, publicly condemned Miss Rowling in an essay online in which she said the author’s attacks on transgender activists are inconsistent with her organisation’s ‘beliefs and values’.
Miss Rowling was heavily criticised by actors who starred in Harry Potter films, including Daniel Radcliffe, after she took issue with the use of the word ‘people’ instead of ‘women’ in a tweet about menstruation in June. Outlining her views on gender identity, she tweeted: ‘If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.’
The author, whose Potter books are all-time bestsellers with 500million bought, later wrote an essay in which she said her interest in trans issues stemmed from being a survivor of abuse and having concerns about single- sex places for women to go. The Twitter hashtag #IStandWithJKRowling circulated in support of her.
‘Ethical and medical scandal is brewing’