Author of Harry Potter and horrible tweets, J.K. Rowling, is returning the Ripple of Hope award she received last year from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization.
The decision comes after Kerry Kennedy, president of the RFKHR group, issued a statement earlier this month concerning Rowling’s comments about transgender issues.
“Over the course of June 2020—LGBTQ Pride Month—and much to my dismay, J.K. Rowling posted deeply troubling transphobic tweets and statements,” Kennedy wrote on August 3, before detailing instances in which the British author “wrote glibly and dismissively about transgender identity.”
Kennedy also cites the 3,700 word essay that appeared on Rowling’s blog in which she further dug in her heels. (It was at that time that Potter alum Emma Watson and Rupert Grint joined Daniel Radcliffe in stating their support of trans rights.)
Rowling and Kennedy spoke prior to the publication of Kennedy’s published statement, during which time they seem to have had a fundamental disagreement about sex and its determination of gender fluidity. The conversation ended with Kennedy disappointed that Rowling “has chosen to use her remarkable gifts to create a narrative that diminishes the identity of trans and nonbinary people, undermining the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community—one that disproportionately suffers from violence, discrimination, harassment, and exclusion and, as a result, experiences high rates of suicide, suicide attempts, homelessness, and mental and bodily harm.”
“Black trans women and trans youth in particular are targeted,” Kennedy added.
On Thursday, Rowling once again took to her blog, saying that Kerry Kennedy’s statement left her with “no option but to return the Ripple of Hope Award bestowed upon me last year.”
Amid her defense of being “a longstanding donor to LGBT charities” she glossed over the great risks transgender people face, and instead cited “the stories of brave detransitioned young women,” and issued warnings that “an ethical and medical scandal is brewing.”
Rowling and David Yates have three additional Fantastic Beasts films in development at Warner Bros.
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