JK Rowling donated £70K to fund the Supreme Court trans ruling – stop supporting her work

Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex – which will change forever and have far reaching implications on who can access single sex spaces. This campaign was lead by For Women Scotland, who are arguing that sex-based spaces and protections only should apply to those who are born female at birth. This would exclude transgender people from single sex spaces, making lives for those people even more difficult as transphobia feels even more like its winning in this country and what feels in my view to be a considered step backwards. And who gave this organisation a £70,000 donation in their efforts? Who posted a gleeful picture on a luxury boat smoking a cigar, revelling in success as the trans people in this country felt ever more fearful? JK Rowling – and her instrumental nature in supporting this Supreme Court ruling on trans issues means, at least to me, that there’s no place to support her work any further if you care about the best interests of transgender people.

It’s time to say goodbye to Harry Potter

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Like many LGBTQ+ people, my childhood and Harry Potter were hand in hand. I remember when I was in the early days of school, we had to draw a portrait of our idol. I wanted to draw Buffy Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer – but my mum convinced me to change it to JK Rowling. Quite fair of her too, really – since it would probably a bit jarring for a little seven year old to be drawing the lead character of a show that he wasn’t really old enough to be watching. JK Rowling in essence was quite a good suggestion on my mum’s part – she was a self made success, and her work I was obsessed with. She’d created a boy called Harry – the same name my parents call me – who also had dark hair and glasses. It was easy for me to become enamoured with his adventures both on book and on screen. Drawing that picture of her now as my idol is a decision that haunts me, despite the fact I’m clearly the only person on earth who is likely to have remembered I did it in the first place.

My point here is, after this ruling, I have no qualms with writing off anything to do with Harry Potter and nor should you – if you care about doing right by the trans people in this country. Engaging with Harry Potter and its universe is something I have found contentious since JK Rowling first started becoming affiliated with those who oppose trans people being afforded the same rights as those assigned female at birth.

But as we endure wave after wave of casting announcements of the new HBO Harry Potter reboot series, the Supreme Court ruling is the signal you need to take as your call to action – are you supporting JK Rowling and this decision you actively funded and worked towards getting put through, or are you not?

Some things are more important than the fictional universe you love. If, like me, you are a cis fan of that franchise whilst also hearing the news yesterday with utter horror – the least we can do is put our allyship where our mouth is. Transgender people, Supreme Court ruling or no Supreme Court ruling, are not going anywhere – and turning your back on the powerful figures who were instrumental in this decision is needed more than ever.

When JK Rowling posted that picture last night after the Supreme Court verdict on trans people in single sex spaces, on a boat none of us are likely ever going to be able to be rich enough to take a trip on and smugly puffing on a cigar – it tells you everything you need to know about what these decisions mean for people whose lives will be affected by it and those in ivory towers whose lives will not.

To learn more about transgender rights or lend your support, please check out the charity Mermaids in the UK.

Featured image By: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/Shutterstock