JK Rowling has acknowledged her “cancellation” after sharing a post celebrating her wedding anniversary.
The Harry Potter author has been met with strong backlash in recent years over her outspoken stance on trans women, which many, including LGBT+ spokespeople, have deemed transphobic.
Rowling’s comments on the trans community also prompted stars of the Potter film franchise, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, to distance themselves from the author and her work.
On Tuesday (26 December), Rowling addressed the negative response caused by her remarks after sharing a photo alongside her husband, Scottish doctor Neil Murray.
The author then shared a response she’d received that said: “I hope he leaves you for a trans woman,” to which she commented: “I just read this to Neil and he said something that made me laugh so hard I nearly coughed up a kidney.”
When one of Rowling’s followers urged her to reveal what her husband had said, Rowling replied: “I’m not about to get my husband cancelled. One in the family’s enough!”
Rowling first made her stance on transgender women public in December 2019 when she tweeted in support of researcher Maya Forstater, whose job contract at think-tank Centre for Global Development was not renewed due to a series of tweets she had made questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.
These initial remarks prompted backlash from fans of the author, who labelled Rowling a “terf” – an acronym that stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
The author, who has denied being transphobic, but previously stated she would rather go to jail than refer to a trans person by their preferred pronouns, went on to post a much-maligned essay about gender identity ideology on her website.
In this essay, she outlined five reasons to be “worried about the new trans activism” and it received condemnation from Radcliffe and Watson. In April 2024, Rowling reignited her row with the pair, suggesting she won’t “forgive” the actors for questioning her trans views.
Radcliffe, who played the lead character of Potter in the adaptation of Rowling’s novels, previously wrote an essay for The Trevor Project as a way of showing support for the trans community, and apologised “for the pain” Rowling’s comments have caused the Potter fandom.
Meanwhile, Watson, who played Hermione Granger, wrote: “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are,” and appeared to make a dig at Rowling at the Baftas in 2022.
The movement to protect trans rights has gained a renewed focus this year, after a number of killings of activists.
According to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project – a global initiative of Transgender Europe (TGEU) – at least 350 transgender and gender-diverse people have been murdered over the past year, and the majority of these recorded murders are of trans women. These findings including the killing of 13 activists.
Elsewhere this year, an independent report found that vulnerable children seeking gender care are being let down by the NHS amid a row of “exceptional toxicity” about trans rights in Britain.
The study found that young people with gender dysphoria are being treated in a system underpinned by “remarkably weak” research, gaps in mental health care and “unusual” clinical practice.
The review, led by distinguished paediatrician and former Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health president Dr Hilary Cass, warned that the “polarisation and stifling of debate” by adults has not only let children down but hampered medical and scientific progress in the area, with healthcare professionals afraid to openly discuss their views.
Rowling described the report as “a watershed moment”.
