Judy Murray backs Rowling as author expands on her trans views
JUDY MURRAY has backed JK Rowling’s stance on transgender rights, after the author said women’s protections must not be dismantled to “validate” the feelings of men amid a row over hate crime laws.
The tennis coach, mother of Andy and Jamie, shared support for a 700word essay written by the Harry Potter writer in which she gave an in-depth explanation of her views on the clash between trans and women’s rights.
Rowling has been at the centre of a major row on gender since new laws came into force in Scotland last week that made it a criminal offence to “stir up hatred” against trans people and other protected groups.
She challenged police to arrest her, in a post in which she called a series of high-profile trans women men, before officers ruled no offence had been committed.
The writer expressed her view that while she believed gender dysphoria was a “real and very painful condition” it was not possible for surgeries or hormones to “literally turn a person into the opposite sex”.
Rowling added that an ideology that stated each human being “has a nebulous ‘gender identity’ that may or might not match our sexed bodies” was causing “very real harm to vulnerable people.”
Perthshire-based Ms Murray, 64, shared Rowling’s post on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the word “preach”.
It also attracted support from other female sporting figures, such as the ex-swimmer Sharron Davies and the former tennis star Martina Navratilova.
It is the latest in a series of interventions over gender from Ms Murray, who has previously expressed concerns on the fairness of allowing trans athletes to participate in women’s sports but has not spoken in detail about her views.
In Rowling’s article, the author was responding to a claim she had a “narrow” view of womanhood.
The Edinburgh-based writer said she believed women were only those born in bodies “geared towards producing eggs as opposed to sperm” regardless of if they were capable of having children.
“I am strongly against women’s and girls’ rights and protections being dismantled to accommodate trans-identified men,” she said, stating they retained physical advantages and studies suggested they had “exactly the same pattern of criminality as other men".
Rowling added: “In other words, I think the safety and rights of girls and women are more important than those men’s desire for validation.”
She wrote women born in female bodies were no more or less women regardless of if they conformed to gender stereotypes, such as through how they dressed, their jobs or personalities.
She said: “Some people feel strongly that they should have been, or wish to be seen as, the sex class into which they weren’t born. Gender dysphoria is a real and very painful condition and I feel nothing but sympathy for anyone who suffers from it.
“I want them to be free to dress and present themselves however they like and I want them to have exactly the same rights as every other citizen regarding housing, employment and personal safety.
She added: “I do not, however, believe that surgeries and cross-sex hormones literally turn a person into the opposite sex, nor do I believe in the idea that each of us has a nebulous ‘gender identity’ that may or might not match our sexed bodies.”