Cambridge bans ‘transphobic’ Harry Potter-themed dinner
IT SEEMED like a perfect theme for a pre-Halloween celebration.
But a Cambridge college ditched its Harry Potter concept for a formal dinner after angry students complained that it was ‘transphobic’.
Undergraduates at Girton College condemned the planned event’s association with author JK Rowling, who has been outspoken in her views on transgender issues.
Following the backlash, the college’s junior common room (JCR) committee switched the theme for the meal on Thursday to ‘spooktober’. Committee members said this helped foster ‘a safe and inclusive environment which everyone can enjoy’.
Girton’s formal dinners are held in the college’s magnificent dining hall every Thursday during term time, with students wearing gowns. Concerns were raised over the Harry Potter theme on an anonymous submissions page, Girthfessions, with one user calling the planned event ‘inherently transphobic’. The committee of the JCR, the students’ union for undergraduates, initially apologised for any upset caused by association with Miss Rowling, according to Varsity student newspaper. But when the controversy continued the JCR said in an email to students that after ‘conversations with representatives of the affected communities and senior college staff’, it had decided to change the formal theme. It hoped the move would ‘make everyone feel comfortable and safe enough to attend’.
Girton, founded in 1869, is the latest Cambridge college to disassociate itself from Miss Rowling. Homerton has scrapped its annual Harry Potter-themed dinner and replaced it with a film night dedicated to the boy wizard.
Miss Rowling’s position on women’s rights has seen her ‘cancelled’ by many woke institutions and led to her receiving death threats.
In June 2020, she was accused of transphobia when she mocked an article which had used the phrase ‘people who menstruate’, rather than women. Girton College declined to comment. The JCR has been contacted for comment.