J.K. Rowling: Why She's Celebrating a Court Ruling on Transgender People

Rolling Stone J.K. Rowling: Why She's Celebrating a Court Ruling on Transgender People Ralf Niemczyk • 1 hour • 3 minutes read UK Supreme Court Rejects Women's Rights for Transgender Women In her often fierce crusade against much that identifies as "trans," bestselling author J.K. Rowling appears to be in a winning mood. Following the UK Supreme Court's ruling that a quota only applies to "biologically born women," the creator of the "Harry Potter" saga wrote on social media: "It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an entire army behind them to bring this case to the Supreme Court. I'm so proud to know you." In a recent news story on "X" from Thursday night (April 17), J.K. Rowling is pictured with a drink and a cigarillo somewhere under the southern sun. Her comment: "I love it when a plan works!" The ruling was won by the activist group "For Women Scotland" (FWS), whose motto fluttered on banners in front of the court: "Female is a fact. Not a feeling." Co-founder Susan Smith told the UK press that this legal battle had been "a very, very long road." The background to this is a 2018 law passed by the Scottish government in Edinburgh on the recognition of trans women as women, based on the Equality Act of 2010, which applies to all areas of life. "Gender is real" "Today, the judges said what we have always believed, namely that women are protected by their biological sex. Gender is real, and women can now feel safe that services and spaces intended for women are also for women. We are very grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling," said Smith. Various human rights and LGBTQ organizations immediately filed a protest. Amnesty International, for example, stated fundamentally that excluding transgender people from protection against gender-based discrimination is contrary to human rights. Billionaire Rowling has been campaigning against various aspects of "trans" for years and has donated generously to the organization "For Woman Scotland." Stars from the "Harry Potter" film adaptation, such as Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe, have turned away from the author. The UK magazine "The Week" speaks of a "timeline of J.K. Rowling's transphobic shift." This anti-commitment has escalated over the years. In March 2018, she "liked" a tweet that referred to trans women as "men in drag." At the time, a spokesperson for the author explained this as a mistake on her smartphone. "There is no such thing as a lesbian with a penis!" In 2019, she expressed solidarity with the late activist Magdalen Berns, who created videos with titles like "There's no such thing as a lesbian with a penis!". After further trans-critical tweets and a feud with Daniel Radcliffe, who, to her horror, postulated "Transgender women are women!", she wrote a lengthy essay in June 2020. In it, Rowling recounted domestic violence and sexual assault she had experienced. A rare insight into her psychological motivation for becoming so active in this field. She sympathized with women who had "concerns about gendered spaces." She spoke out against "opening the doors of toilets and changing rooms to any man who thinks or feels they are a woman." She also expressed sympathy for the TERF movement, the abbreviation for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Rowling then finally brought Scottish legislation into action as an active supporter, which has now been overturned by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London. It is hardly to be expected that Rowling has brought her increasingly irreconcilable fight, especially against these men, to an end.