Emma Watson, the star of the beloved “Harry Potter” franchise, on Wednesday tweeted in support of trans people after “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling doubled down on previous comments in what some on Twitter have referred to as a “transphobic manifesto.”
“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are,” Watson wrote on Twitter. “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.”
Watson’s tweets are in response to comments Rowling made on Twitter recently, for which she faced a scourge of backlash, about an article titled, “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
“If [biological] sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased,” Rowling wrote. “The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women — ie, to male violence – ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences — is a nonsense.”
Earlier on Wednesday Rowling followed up on those tweets with a 4,000-word blog post, in which she attempted to “explain” herself.
“This isn’t an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it’s time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity,” Rowling began the post.
In the blog post, Rowling said she had “five reasons for being worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up.” Among those reasons, she mentions her charity for women and children, being an ex-teacher, her interest in free speech, a concern about “the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition” and her experience as a victim of sexual and domestic abuse.
[If you want to read Rowling’s blog post]
Watson, who capped her Twitter thread on the matter by wishing everyone a happy pride month, threw in a shoutout to Mermaids and Mama Cash, two organizations she donates to that fight for the rights of transgender people around the world.
The famed Hermione Granger actress joins Daniel Radcliffe in their support of trans lives. The Harry Potter actor penned an essay to the website of The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ suicide prevention organization, on Monday, in which he wrote: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”
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.
— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) June 10, 2020