July 5, 2020

J.K. Rowling posts a Twitter thread in response to a tweet by user @TrinerScot that reads: “Who had money on JK Rowling pivoting to supporting those who call people who take mental health medication ‘lazy’?”: “I take daily medication to function, this sentiment is beyond offensive, it is actively harmful to millions.” The thread is 11 tweets long, and she explains her mental health problems and how she took antidepressants when she was younger. While I do not want to discredit her and her mental health issues, she compares taking antidepressants with using hormones to transition as a transgender person. I do not think the comparison between the two is fair, as it implies that hormones are used to treat a mental illness and are harmful to transgender people when it is the opposite more often than not. She continues the thread to explain why she does not agree with hormones and medication. She wrote, “Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalization that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.”

I think her original stance in comparing antidepressants to hormones was not as much of a reach, but comparing transitioning to conversion therapy is something that I could never agree with. She says this to spread awareness to the trans community so that they think about making a huge decision such as transitioning. However, she portrays detransitioning as something that happens often. In actuality, that is far from the case. According to a 2015 survey of about 28,000 people conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality, only eight percent of the respondents reported detransitioning, and 62 percent of those people said they detransitioned only for a short time due to pressure from family members and friends. I am not disregarding the fact that there are people who have regretted their decision to transition, but it is such a small percentage of people in comparison to the number of trans people whose lives are actively improved by transitioning that it is unfair to drill this idea into the heads of younger questioning people who are more vulnerable to believing anything they read on the internet. 

J.K. Rowling should not have a say in the lives of transgender people at all. As a cisgender, heterosexual, privileged white woman, she will not have to experience even an ounce of the discrimination that a transgender person will have to in their lifetime. She speaks from a place of a woman who feels threatened by transgender people, and it is obvious in the tone and wording she uses throughout these tweets. 

“Harry Potter” is one of my favorite series of all time. I love the world and characters and story building, but my love for the franchise should not excuse the fact that the creator is a transphobic “feminist” who would rather speak on the lives of others than focus on educating herself on a community she refuses to listen to. She continues to make hurtful comments towards the transgender community even though she consistently says that she supports them and the LGBTQ+ community alike. She made Dumbeldore gay as a way to gain the support and trust of these communities but failed to see that her words contradicted this.