Why I don't Support J. K. Rowling

This is going to be controversial, and a lot of people won't like it. But I don't really care. 

For this Sunday's post, I want to write about why I don't support J. K. Rowling anymore. For those of you who might don't know, Rowling is the author of the best-selling series "Harry Potter". She's actually the first person to become a billionaire by writing books, which to be fair is pretty impressive. But I don't like her as a person, and I definitely don't stand by her messages. 

Before I go on, I want to make something clear: I have nothing against "Harry Potter" as a book series. I believe it is a great series, and it actually got me into reading, and for that I will be eternally grateful. It has a beautiful and vast world, full of wonders and amazing characters, and a very passionate fandom. Is it my favorite series? No. Even though it's beautiful and great, I do admit I like other book series more than "Harry Potter", but that doesn't mean I have anything against it. 

Now, for Rowling... 

Let's begin with a very simple statement: 

To understand this part, we must look at some tweets made by Rowling: 

Girl, there are men who menstruate and women who don't. 
Get over yourself.

But... who ever told her that sex isn't real? 
Who ever told her that the trans community erases the concept of sex? 

She was supporting a woman who was fired
for making public transphobic comments. 

Alright... 

Now, I am not a transexual man, but I am part of the LGBT+ community, and girl... NO!

First of all: trans women are still women. You do not get to decide that for them. Even if they don't menstruate, that doesn't take away their womanhood. She states "People who menstruate. I'm sure there used to be a word for those people." Why does she feel her existence threatened by trans women? They are not denying the existence of cis women, they are just expressing their own existence and right to be. 

Second: why does she feel like transexuals erase or deny the concept of sex? The transition process doesn't erase sex. Just thinking about it sounds preposterous. 

Third: regarding the firing of that women for her transphobic comments, if you are working for a company you must be careful with what you express on the media. Period. If the company doesn't agree with what you're expressing, and/or your beliefs do not reflect the ideas and image they want to present, they will most likely fire you. If we do not accept racist comments because they are obviously morally wrong, why should we accept transphobic or even homophobic comments? More on this later. 

Furthermore, she is comparing gay conversion therapy, to the therapy transexual receive for their transitioning process. It isn't only stupid, but dangerous to say something like that. Trans people are aided in their transitioning so they can express who they really are in a healthy and safe way, both physically and psychologically (if I'm not mistaken). Gay conversion on the other hand is a torturous process on which a gay person is driven to think their very nature is wrong, even sinful. They teach them to reject themselves and live a life that isn't theirs; many end up committing suicide. 

So... how are these two even compared? I don't know. 

Many people have defended her by stating that her character Albus Dumbledore is gay. Yeah, so? First, he was only declared gay years after the publication of the series. Even though I'll go deeper into this later, I do want to say that the LGBT+ community is NOT AN AFTERTHOUGHT TO GET PUBLICITY. Second, regardless of the sexuality of a fiction character, that doesn't necessarily reflect her opinions on the LGBT+ community. That's like saying that a member of the KKK is not racist just because they happen to have a friend who's black. And third... why does she support a group who are in favor of gay conversion therapy? 

She previously liked posts of groups who are in favor of conversion therapy. Not only that, but her pseudonym for writing some of her books is Robert Galbraith. This Galbraith was a real person though: he was an infamous gay conversion therapist, whose practices were declared by the law as unethical and inhuman. Therefore, why of all the names in this world does she have to use the name of a man like this? A lot of people have said that she probably didn't know... yeah, right. You're telling me that living in a world like a ours, with constant access to the internet, you didn't give two seconds of your time to investigate the pen name you were choosing?  

This bastard was Robert Galbraith. 

Now, we can disagree on a lot of things: clothes, movies, food, music, you name it! But not on human rights. And the rights of every single member of the LGBT+ community are human rights, period. I cannot, and will not support a woman who has bashed time after time the trans community, and who doesn't take us seriously enough. 

As I said earlier, my community is not an afterthought. All of a sudden, her character Albus Dumbledore was gay. At the same time, she started writing a bunch of crap on twitter about "Harry Potter", things no one cared about or needed to know; some of them even broke her own book cannon. For example, she once wrote that wizards in her books never used toilets until the muggles invented them... girl, for real? Who needs to know this crap? 

For me, she is just a person who tasted fame and is desperate for more. She's desperate to stay relevant by stating a lot of stupid "facts" that no one cares about. Among all of these publications, she threw the Dumbledore sexuality. Why? Just why? If you were really intending for him to be gay, why not make him so since the beginning? This reeks to me as a tactic to get more publicity. And if she cares so much about diversity, why is that not reflected in her work? I could count with the fingers of one hand all the non-white or non-straight characters in "Harry Potter". 

If you really care about diversity, why not make your characters and books more diverse? And I'm sorry, but the visualization of diversity is now more important than ever. She could help more by normalizing diversity through her stories. But no... she decides to post stupid things on twitter and block people who don't agree with her. 

Munroe Bergdorf is an English transgender model and activist.

Honestly, I mostly feel sad. This woman used to be one of my idols, but now? Not anymore. I can (sometimes) separate a work of art from its creator if I don't agree with the creator's ideas. I try to separate "Harry Potter" as a work of literature from her, so I don't ruin my experience of the books any further, because they're very good. But her as a person I cannot support. 

A couple of friends have told me, "She has a right to an opinion." Yes, she does. But if her opinion threatens the existence and wellness of my community, then I don't have to respect and/or accept it. We condemn racism for being morally and humanly wrong, obviously; no one should ever be discriminated for the color of their skin. But then, why do I have to accept homophobic and transphobic comments and ideas as mere opinions? NO! Our existence is not subjected to public opinion: our existence is a FACT. 

I really hate making a comparison between the two issues, but I am personally sick and tired of having to listen discriminating comments with people defending them as opinions. Again: we can disagree on many things, but not on human rights. If you don't understand something about the LGBT+ community then educate yourself- it won't cost you anything. If you can use twitter to speak tons of crap, then you can use the internet for something that is actually useful- like educating your mind.  

In conclusion, I am disappointed in Rowling. I know of a lot of people of my community who found strength and the courage to stand proud thanks to her stories, and then for her to say things like these is heartbreaking to say the least. I sincerely hope she thinks better before tweeting again, for her words are already hurting too much people. 

Sincerely, 

    

    A pissed off Ema. 

P.S This is one of the million reasons why I believe education is the salvation of this world.