JK Rowling reveals how family reacted to her speaking out on trans views

Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the trans community which some readers may find distressing.

JK Rowling has revealed how her family reacted to her speaking out about her views on transgender people.

Rowling first made her stance about transgender women public nearly five years ago back in December 2019.

JK Rowling first made her views on transgender people public back in 2019. (Mike Marsland / Contributor / Getty Images)

The Harry Potter author took to X to defend researcher Maya Forstater who was fired from her job due to a series of tweets which saw her question government plans to allow individuals to self-identify as another gender.

Then, some months later in June 2020, Rowling took to X once again to hit out at the term 'people who menstruate'.

That term in question is used in order to include transgender and non-binary people when discussing the topic of menstruation as, for example, a trans man may still menstruate.

She wrote: "'People who menstruate'. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"

This prompted backlash among fans and others alike who called Rowling out for being a 'TERF' - a trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

Writing in an extract from a new book of essays, The Women Who Wouldn’t Say Wheesht, Rowling opened up about why she initially kept her views on trans people to herself 'because people around me, including some I love, were begging me not to speak'.

The Harry Potter was dubbed a 'TERF' following the backlash. (Jeff Spicer / Contributor / Getty Images)

She continued: "So I watched from the sidelines as women with everything to lose rallied, in Scotland and across the UK, to defend their rights.

"My guilt that I wasn’t standing with them was with me daily, like a chronic pain.

"I believe that what is being done to troubled young people in the name of gender identity ideology is, indeed, a terrible medical scandal."

Rowling then went on to claim: "I believe we’re witnessing the greatest assault of my lifetime on the rights our foremothers thought they’d guaranteed for all women.

"Ultimately, I spoke up because I’d have felt ashamed for the rest of my days if I hadn’t. If I feel any regret at all, it’s that I didn’t speak far sooner."

Stars from the beloved Harry Potter franchise, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint subsequently shared statements condemning Rowling's comments.

Radcliffe wrote in a statement shared with The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organisation focused on suicide prevention efforts among the LGBTQIA+ community: "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."

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have shared statements condemning Rowling's comments. (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

In The Times extract, Rowling continued: "People who’d worked with me rushed to distance themselves from me or to add their public condemnation of my blasphemous views (though I should add that many former and current colleagues have been staunchly supportive).

"The thing is, those appalled by my position often fail to grasp how truly despicable I find theirs."

Elsewhere in the extract, she went on: "I’d come to believe that the socio-political movement insisting ‘trans women are women’ was neither kind nor tolerant, but in fact profoundly misogynistic, regressive, dangerous in some of its objectives and nakedly authoritarian in its tactics."

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]