It’s frightening that in 2025, conversations surrounding the validity of the trans experience are met with backlash, transphobia and blatant dismissal. It’s even more frightening when these conversations and opinions come from figures with followings, figures who were once trusted and even beloved, figures who played influential roles in shaping our worldviews as children. Figures like J.K Rowling, for instance.
Back in 2020, the Harry Potter author came under (rightful) fire for various tweets and public commentary that were transphobic in their sentiment and deeply offensive to a community already facing intense fear and prejudice in a Trumpian world. Though, her transphobia can be charted back to 2018, when she “accidentally” liked a tweet that referred to transwomen as “men in dresses.” A spokesperson labelled this move as nothing more than a “clumsy and middle-aged moment” — which felt like an ill-conceived attempt to reach the shore before the ship truly sank. The way things progressed after that though, it appeared Rowling wasn’t interested in a life raft.
What Happened With Magdalen Berns & Maya Forstater?
In 2019, Rowling followed radical feminist YouTuber Magdalen Berns on Twitter — a figure whose videos often expressed transphobic sentiments — and was outspoken in her support for her, calling her an “immensely brave young feminist.” Around this time Rowling also expressed support for a woman named Maya Forstater, who was pursuing legal action against her former employer for discrimination after they didn’t renew her contract following an anti-trans tweet.
J.K Rowling’s Issue With “People Who Menstruate”
In 2020, Rowling responded to a story referring to “people who menstruate” on X, writing “People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” A mere three days later, Rowling released a lengthy essay on her site attempting to explain her commentary, but instead of an apology, she doubled down. The piece is a deeply offensive argument for why she’s valid in her opinions, expressing concern for “the new trans activism” and claiming her transphobia as fear about a movement she believes is “doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators.”
Shortly after, a number of Harry Potter alum came out in defence of trans people, publicly denouncing Rowling’s transphobia. Daniel Radcliffe wrote “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people,” while Watson tweeted “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned.”
But, People Still Want To Be In The 'Harry Potter' Television Series?
It appears so. HBO Max is producing the series, and though filming is yet to begin, it seems they’ve had little trouble casting the show. John Lithgow, Paapa Essiedu and Katherine Parkinson have all been confirmed, and people have thoughts. There was an article titled “An open letter to John Lithgow: Please walk away from Harry Potter,” a slew of comments on Nick Frost’s Instagram when he announced he’d be playing Hagrid and plenty of backlash levelled at Parkinson after she signed on too. Not even Essiedu signing a petition pushing for the UK entertainment industry to protect trans people was enough to keep him out of it either.
HBO Max is holding steadfast though, with the network’s chief content officer Casey Bloys telling Puck’s The Town podcast, “It’s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She’s entitled to them.” If this tells us anything, it’s that in 2025, progress looks like two steps forward, a kilometre back.
