‘Transgender women are women’: Daniel Radcliffe responds to JK Rowling’s controversial comments

New Delhi: Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter” franchise actor on Monday (local time) criticised the franchise creator JK Rowling’s controversial tweets, wherein she had shared her thoughts about gender identity.

In a blog post for LGBTQ youth nonprofit The Trevor Project, Radcliffe said: “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 (Rowling) or I.”
The actor said he felt ‘compelled to say something at the moment’.

Radcliffe citing statistics compiled by The Trevor Project said that 78 per cent of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. “It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.”

According to CNN report, Radcliffe specifically addressed fans of the Wizarding World, or “all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished.”

“I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred,” he said.

Rowling is facing criticism for a tweet wherein she shared an article titled: “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19- world for people who menstruate.”

Rowling mocked the use of phrase ‘people who menstruate’ saying: “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

The author faced backlash for her comments after which she, subsequently, in a series of tweets, defended her comments.

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth,” she said.

“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women – ie, to male violence – ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences – is a nonsense.”

Rowling said she respects every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. “I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so,” she said. (ANI)