Why JK Rowling shouldn’t forgive those weaselly little bandwagon jumpers she made rich and famous
J.K. Rowling has said she won ’ t forgive Harry P otter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and R upert Grint, who criticised her and ‘cosied up to a move - ment intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’ during the early stages of the toxic trans debates.
Nor will she accept any apology they might be willing to make, now that the Cass Review has been published — which vindicates her views on what she calls ‘the catastrophe of child transition’.
Good for J .K. — why the hell should she make nice with these mini-tyrants, forever desperate to polish their woke credentials at her expense?
‘There are all kinds of courage,’ as P rofessor Dumbledore once said. ‘It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our ene - mies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.’
Radcliffe and Watson and even Rupert Grint owe their entire careers to J.K. Rowling’s creative brilliance. You might have hoped this would earn her if not their undying gratitude, then at least a bit of respect. But not a bit of it.
The weaselly bandwagon jump - ers didn’t hesitate to kick Rowling to the kerb when she aired her beliefs — widely held by the Brit - ish public — that sex is real and has lived consequences, not least that women’s lives are fundamentally shaped by being female.
We can all respect and be supportive of trans people living lives that feel authentic and comfortable to them, was her general feeling. However, not to the point where more is lost than gained. When children’s wellbeing, women’s safety, women’s rights, the sanctity of female sports and all- women safe spaces are threatened and eroded by noisy pressure groups insisting upon trans rights above all rights. Then and now, Rowling’s beliefs were popular, thoughtful, non-transphobic and admirable. Surely she deserved support from her former proteges?
Are you kidding? Radcliffe released a statement (‘transgen - der women are women ’) and piously apologised to any Harry Potter fans who felt that ‘their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished’ by her stance. How utterly enraging of the little pipsqueak.
THEN Hermione Granger actress Emma W atson was equally dismissive of Rowling’s views. ‘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,’ she cheeped on her Twitter account.
Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint followed along. ‘I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. T rans women are women. T rans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.’
But who was really being judgy here? It’s not that these influen - tial young actors are not entitled to their express their opinions — of course they are. But why feel they had to weigh in — uninvited! — on the beliefs of the woman who gave them their careers? The publication of the Cass Report this week has changed everything — and thank God for that.
The review , which primarily looked at gender identity services for under-18s, found that children in the UK have been let down by a lack of research and ‘remarkably weak’ evidence on medical inter - ventions in gender care.
We all know what that means; the terrible, bleak reality of too many ruined young bodies, too many troubled lives blighted by parents, adults, teachers, mis - guided Harry P otter celebrities, nutcases and numerous people in organisations such as the BBC and the Guardian newspaper who supported this flawed ideology with all their hearts.
And by doing so, insidiously supported the transitioning of minors, encouraging young women to cut off their breasts and young boys to take pubertyblocking hormones. Children who were too young to drink , smoke or vote were encouraged to make far -reaching, irreversible decisions about their sexuality and physical appearance. It was a kind of madness.
And it is far from over , despite the screech of U-turns being heard from the progressive Left.
Look at Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who is thrashing about in the post- Cass sheep dip of his very personal conversion therapy.
Quicker than you can say ‘forth - coming election’ Mr Streeting has dramatically tried to disinfect himself from his formerly hardline stance on gender, admitting it was a mistake to insist ‘all trans women are women’.
YET his greasy mea culpa doesn’t make it all right. It doesn’t make him or his brutish views all right, nor does it ameliorate those who used their platforms to cheer on gender treatments that wrecked lives for ever.
Several transgender people were invited to comment on the news. BBC Radio 4’s PM programme had Amelia Hansford, a trans - gender journalist for PinkNews. ‘It is not going to stop the trans people who really need this care,’ she said — and I hope that it doesn’t.
But only when they are adults, old enough to make an informed decision themselves or at the very least pass stringent psychological assessments in paediatric gender clinics. BBC News had Hallie Clarke, who said that she knew she was trans from a young age because she had ‘a Hannah Mon - tana cake and a blonde wig’. And now she feels ‘underminded’ by the Cass Review.
Outspoken trans woman India Willoughby tweeted herself into a fury, expounding a belief that the Cass Review is an ‘ideologicallydriven’ report that ignores evidence and is trying to ‘ ban transitioning’.
I don’t think that is true. And I don’t think that is what anyone wants, on all sides of the argument. But I am growing tired of the militant trans lobby propounding the belief that ‘psychologically’ believing you are a woman auto - matically makes you a woman.
For being a woman is not just a thought — and it is offensive to many of us that biological males who think that wearing a wig , having breasts and a Hannah Montana birthday cake is all it takes, argument over.
The reality is much more complex, of course, but at least the Cass Review is a vindication of J.K. Rowling and common sense at last. No apology needed.