As a child, the Harry Potter books brought me comfort and entertainment. They taught me to love reading, and that was a big freaking deal. I was a restless kid with ADHD and before HP I couldn't stand to sit still long enough to piece a sentence together. Harry Potter changed all that, and reading soon became my favourite thing to do. Now, many years later Harry Potter still brings me the same level of comfort of entertainment as it did when I was small. It got me through a lot of hard times in my life, and was a constant I could turn to when I felt alone and small.
This is important background, as it helps to understand how very deeply JK Rowlings (now undeniable) transphobia has hurt me.
I myself am a cis bi woman. When JK Rowling tweets the utter garbage she just spewed, defending a fellow transphobe, it doesn't directly affect me. She doesn't hate ME. It would be easy, then, to let this go. To distance myself, and make excuses.
But I know I am not the only person who grew up with Harry Potter, who took comfort in it and loved the characters and stories as if they were real. And I think to myself, how those people who are indeed trans must be feeling right now. How would be it for someone who wrote something you're so close to, just spill just absolute trash aimed at you?
I have some experience with writers I once admired turning out to be full of hate towards me, in particular, so I can safely say that it feels fucking awful.
JK Rowling wrote a beautiful story, about and love and acceptance and our actions defining our character above all else. And she has proven, for a while now, that her actions betray an awful character hiding behind a fake smile of paper thin inclusivity.
JK Rowling is a fucking TERF and I think as a fandom we need to acknowledge and accept that. If you're cis, like me, it's easy to close our eyes to things that aren't directly affecting us. But that's bullshit. JK Rowling is attacking trans people, and that is ALL of our problem. Don't make excuses, don't look the other way.
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