As the world battles a pandemic and struggles for racial equality, J. K. Rowling published a series of transphobic tweets on Saturday. Two days later, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe responded to your comments through The Trevor Project website and sent a clear message: “Transgender women are women.”
Daniel acknowledged that J. K. Rowling is “unquestionably responsible” for the course his life has taken, but as a contributor to The Trevor Project and “as a human being,” he felt an urgency to talk. “Transgender women are women,” he wrote. “Any statement to the contrary, it erases the identity and dignity of transgender and goes against all the advice given by professional health care associations have a lot more experience in this topic that Jo or I.”
“I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused.”
Daniel went on to quote a Trevor Project statistics, 78 percent of transgender and non-binary youth reported discrimination due to their gender identity. “It is clear that we need to do more to support for transgender people and nonbinary people, does not invalidate their identities, and not to cause more damage,” he explained.
He made sure to speak directly to fans of J. K. Rowling’s series that might feel especially for his tweets. “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused. I really hope that you do not lose what was valuable in these stories to you.”
“If these books taught you that love is the most powerful force in the universe, able to overcome anything; if you are taught that strength is found in diversity, and that the dogmatic ideas of purity lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, non-binary, or gender fluid, or who are gay or bisexual; if you find any thing in these stories that resonated with you and helped you in any moment in your life, that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion no one can touch that,” he said. “This means that what it means to you and I hope that these comments do not stain too much.”
