Harry Potter author JK Rowling, though no conservative and quite to the left on most issues, has decided that the issue of transgender women and pronouns related to them is the hill on which she will fight to the last, as she recently showed in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
In the post, Rowling reiterated her decision to not refer to trans women as women, and even went so far as to say that she would be willing to go to jail for her views on the matter if it comes to it rather than use someone’s preferred pronouns.
Then, responding to a commenter who also indicated that she would be willing to go to jail over the matter, saying, “See you on the inside. I quite fancy the kitchens,” Rowling wrote, “Hoping for the library, obviously, but I think I could do ok in the kitchens. Laundry might be a problem. I have a tendency to shrink stuff/turn it pink accidentally. Guessing that won’t be a major issue if it’s mostly scrubs and sheets, though.”
Continuing with joking about the situation, Rowling responded to a commenter who said, “I’m a good ironer” by writing “I’m ok at ironing. It’s the not checking there’s a random red sock in amongst the sheets that’s the issue.” And, when one commenter joked “Imagine getting shanked by JK,” Rowling commented, “That made me laugh so hard I scared my husband.”
This is the Rowling post that began the flurry of comments and discussion of going to jail over pronoun usage:
No. pic.twitter.com/YhoHfKdeat
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 17, 2023
In another post on the Labour Party’s pronoun stance. Rowling wrote, “Saved by the host, but at some point one of them is going to have to answer the question. ‘Over 52% of this country are women. Are we sure that Labour is ready to govern when it’s spent four years denying that a woman is an adult human female… and punishing women?’ 👏🔥“
Saved by the host, but at some point one of them is going to have to answer the question.
'Over 52% of this country are women. Are we sure that Labour is ready to govern when it's spent four years denying that a woman is an adult human female… and punishing women?' 👏🔥 https://t.co/SQVXnNgj4j
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 13, 2023
The proposed Labour policy to which Rowling and others were responding is one that would make deliberately calling someone by the incorrect pronouns a hate crime punished by imprisonment. The existing UK law on the matter is already extremely strict and anti-free speech, making it a hate crime to deliberately misgender another person if motivated by hostility toward the victim’s transgender identity.
Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, commented in favor of the Labour policy, as the Daily Mail reported, saying, “The Conservatives are failing to protect LGBT+ people with their inability to get a handle on hate crime, including violent hate crime. Labour will strengthen the law to ensure the perpetrators of anti-LGBT+ hate can no longer dodge longer sentences.“
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