The once-beloved children’s author is working herself up over Scotland’s new bias law.

The once-beloved children’s author is working herself up over Scotland’s new bias law.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has jumped to defend J.K. Rowling, who is once again using her one wild and precious life to post obsessively about transgender women instead of doing literally anything else with her hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Harry Potter author took to X, formerly Twitter, on April 1 to share her thoughts on Scotland’s new Hate Crime Act, which went into effect the same day. The law criminalizes “stirring up hatred” related to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, trans identity, or being intersex, as the BBC reported. “Stirring up hatred” is further defined as communicating or behaving in a way “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive” against a protected group. The offense is punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine, or both.

In response to the legislation, Rowling posted a long thread naming several prominent trans women in the U.K., including Mridul Wadhwa, the CEO of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, and activist Munroe Bergdorf. Since it was April Fool’s day, Rowling decided to commemorate it by sarcastically affirming the womanhood of all the people she named in her thread. In the same breath that she said that a convicted child predator was “rightly sent to a women’s prison,” she also called out a number of trans women making anodyne comments about inclusion, seemingly implying that trans identity is inherently predatory.

read more: https://www.them.us/story/jk-rowling-rishi-sunak-social-media-trans

  • soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    32·
    9 months ago

    Can you link me a source, I’ve never heard about this and don’t know the details and validity of these laws

    • exocrinous@startrek.websiteEnglish
      62·
      9 months ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_views_of_J._K._Rowling#Transgender_rights

      In March 2022, Rowling criticised Labour party leader Keir Starmer who said “trans women are women” in his personal opinion and according to British law. She accused him of misrepresenting the law and said “the Labour Party can no longer be counted on to defend women’s rights”

      In October 2022, Rowling voiced opposition to the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill aimed at expanding the rights of trans people, calling Nicola Sturgeon a “destroyer of women’s rights”

      In February 2024, Rowling donated £70,000 to a crowd-funding appeal by For Women Scotland in support of their legal case challenging the definition of “woman”. The appeal was started after the UK Supreme Court decided to grant the case a judicial review.[101][102][103] The case is one of many through which For Women Scotland are seeking to overturn the inclusion of trans women with gender recognition certificates in the legal definition of “woman” in some laws in Scotland.

      On 13 March 2024, Rowling dismissed the fact that the Nazis burned books on early transgender healthcare during their raids on the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft as “a fever dream” on Twitter. Rowling went on to quote tweet another user’s tweet which claimed trans people weren’t targeted by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Her comments received widespread criticism, including from Alejandra Caraballo. Some, such as The Mary Sue, accused Rowling of Holocaust denial.

      Not all of these are relevant to your question but they seem like the kind of thing you oughtta know

      • soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        34·
        9 months ago

        You’re right, none of those “advocate for laws which kill children”.

        Weird take

        I know she’s said some outrageous things but nothing in the above is deserving of jail time. Proportionality is completely lost on social media

    • off_brand_@beehaw.orgEnglish
      11·
      9 months ago

      Ugh this is sea lioning. Do you or do you not think JKR is transphobic? And do you or do you not think that trans rights are human rights?

      • soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        11·
        9 months ago

        Yes water is wet however thats importantly not what I’m discussing. I’m asking for sources about the previous claim that she’s advocating for British laws which kill children.

        People really love twisting conversations comment by comment. Let’s stay on track here

        • off_brand_@beehaw.orgEnglish
          11·
          9 months ago

          Alright! Tbh it’s hard to see the line sometimes, and it’s impossible having a discussion with someone who just wants to launder some right wing view through a veneer of “just asking questions”.

          I (not the person you’re responding to) make no claims that she has called for laws to execute kids. I do agree that anti trans laws that JKR advocates for will kill children, but the added layer of “via depression-induced suicide” is something hard to prove and easy to shift responsibility around.

          I’m not British though. Maybe she’s also argued for some sort of “death penalty for going into the ‘wrong’ bathroom” type law. I wouldn’t know.

          • soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyzEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            Nothing I’ve said is remotely right wing, I’m calling out extreme leftism crying to lock up anyone that disagrees with them.