J.K. Rowling just revealed her commitment to saying transphobic things.
The “Harry Potter” author claimed she’d “happily” go to jail in order to keep misgendering people in an incensed tweet on Tuesday.
Overreacting to unverified reports about the U.K.’s Labour party and their plans to amend an already existing hate crime law to better protect gender identity, Rowling wrote, “I’ll happily do two years if the alternative is compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex.”
“Bring on the court case, I say. It’ll be more fun than I’ve ever had on a red carpet,” she went on.
Rowling’s response seemed to be a bad faith interpretation of the Labour’s reported proposal, which was described in an article by the Daily Mail last week.
The U.K. already recognizes hate crimes based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity. And crimes motivated by racial or religious factors can be classified as “aggravated” offenses that carry a harsher sentence.
According to the Daily Mail, the Labour Party wants this “aggravated” classification to also be available for crimes motivated by gender identity. The outlet quoted an anonymous conservative politician and anti-trans activists who speculated this could lead to people being imprisoned solely for deliberately calling someone by the incorrect pronouns.
No policy changes have been presented as of yet, but over the summer, Labour leaders did vow to “modernize, simplify and reform” gender legislation.
Current U.K. legal guidance maintains that misgendering someone can be deemed criminal if used as a “deliberate tactic during the commission of an offense.”
This policy has been challenged in several cases in the U.K. in recent years, however, and there does not appear to be a legal consensus on its interpretation at this time.
Offering a more curt rejection of the yet to be substantiated policy proposal in another post, Rowling tweeted “No” back at a photo of the phrase, “repeat after us: trans women are women” being projected on a government building.
Stuart C. Wilson via Getty Images
The author first openly embraced her so-called “gender-critical” stance around 2019 when she tweeted support for Maya Forstater, a woman who was fired from her job for making transphobic tweets.
A year later, Daniel Radcliffe condemned Rowling for her beliefs in an open letter with the LGBTQ rights group, The Trevor Project.
“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned,” he wrote. Co-stars Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Bonnie Wright quickly co-signed his message.
That September, Rowling published the book, “Troubled Blood,” under her pen name Robert Galbraith. “Troubled Blood” was criticized for its depiction of a male murderer who dresses as a woman to entrap his victims.
In 2022, Rowling was outspoken against Scotland’s proposed Gender Recognition Act and in a statement on her website, she claimed the legislation would allow “male-bodied individuals” the right to be in women’s spaces “such as public bathrooms, changing rooms, rape support centres, domestic violence refuges, hospital wards and prison cells that were hitherto reserved for women.”
Though passed by Scottish legislators, lawmakers in the U.K. vetoed the act this January and the policy debate is still currently playing out in court.