On Monday, transgender activists took to Twitter with the message “#RIPJKRowling.” Since the hashtag got trending, Twitter added a message, “No, JK Rowling is not dead.” Transgender activists used the hashtag to condemn the Harry Potter author’s new book, Troubled Blood. The latest installment in Rowling’s Cormoran Strike detective series (under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith), Troubled Blood tells the story of a man who dresses up as a woman in order to commit murder. Activists have condemned the book as “transphobic.”
As The Telegraph reported, “The meat of the book is the investigation into a cold case: the disappearance of GP Margot Bamborough in 1974, thought to have been a victim of Dennis Creed, a transvestite serial killer.”
Transgender Vogue columnist Paris Lees condemned Rowling’s book, arguing that it is dangerous at a time when transgender people are often the victims of violent attacks.
“JK Rowling’s new book’s about a ‘transvestite serial killer,'” Lees noted. “Meanwhile over in the real world the number of trans people killed in Brazil has risen by 70% this past year, young trans women are left to burn in cars and men who kill us (for being trans) are pardoned and sent home.”
“I know a lot of you who follow me probably share some of the fears around the myth about ‘men who dress up as women to hurt women’. If I wasn’t trans I suspect I would too,” Lees admitted. “But I ask you to look inside your heart and question what is really happening here.”
I know a lot of you who follow me probably share some of the fears around the myth about "men who dress up as women to hurt women". If I wasn't trans I suspect I would too.
But I ask you to look inside your heart and question what is really happening here https://t.co/cdYE2TKmkt
— Paris Lees (@parislees) September 14, 2020
Transgender actor Jen Richards compared Rowling to one of the minor villains in the Harry Potter franchise, the tyrannical teacher-turned-bureaucrat Dolores Umbridge. “JK Rowling has basically become Dolores Umbridge, so obsessed with her deeply prejudiced perspective that she’ll go to any length to remain convinced of her own righteousness, no matter what harm it causes,” Richards tweeted.
JK Rowling has basically become Dolores Umbridge, so obsessed with her deeply prejudiced perspective that she’ll go to any length to remain convinced of her own righteousness, no matter what harm it causes. https://t.co/6RpVHxvjoW
— Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) September 14, 2020
Others vocally condemned the “#RIPJKRowling” hashtag, acting as though it constituted a wish that Rowling would die.
“The fact #RIPJKRowling is trending says all you need to know about the woke brigade – they’re nastier & more viciously intolerant than anyone they preach about,” British journalist Piers Morgan wrote.
The fact #RIPJKRowling is trending says all you need to know about the woke brigade – they’re nastier & more viciously intolerant than anyone they preach about.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 14, 2020
Actor James Dreyfus agreed. “The fact the disgusting hashtag #RIPJKRowling is trending on this mess of a platform, tells you everything you need to know about the mindset of these [Trans Rights Activists],” he tweeted. “Read the comments. Don’t ever ask me to justify my position on this again. It’s sick. Just sick.”
The fact the disgusting hashtag #RIPJKRowling is trending on this mess of a platform, tells you everything you need to know about the mindset of these TRAs. Read the comments.
Don’t ever ask me to justify my position on this again.
It’s sick. Just sick. #IStandWithJKRowling
— James Dreyfus 🟥 (@DreyfusJames) September 14, 2020
Rowling, a left-leaning figure who abhors President Donald Trump, has faced mounting leftist anger for speaking out on the various threats of the transgender movement. She has stood up for people who dare to speak the truth on biology — that men do not become women by “identifying” as female — and she has warned of the dangers of opening up women’s private spaces to men who claim to identify as women. She has also noted Lisa Littman’s research that transgender identity acts as a “social contagion” among teen girls.
Rowling has rightly warned that cross-sex hormones and “puberty blockers” can cause children permanent harm. She has insisted that transgender people enjoy the same rights as others, but she has pushed back against the more radical goals of the transgender activists.
For this nuanced position, the Harry Potter author has received a great deal of scorn. As Morgan tweeted, the woke brigade is particularly nasty on anyone who disagrees with the transgender narrative.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
