J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, has stated that she would gladly serve time in detention for her opinions on transsexual women. Rowling seemed to be reacting to an article in the Sunday Mail that stated that attacks based on gender identity would become illegal in Britain under a Labour government. Refusing to use a transgender person’s preferred pronouns might result in prison sentences, according to critics who spoke with the publication.
“If forced speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex is the alternative, I’ll happily do two years,” Rowling stated on the social network X, which was once known as Twitter. In the heated debate over transgender rights, Rowling has turned into a proponent of biological women’s rights. Her post seems to imply that she is prepared to break the law to exercise her right to free speech.
A court case would be “more fun than I’ve ever had on a red carpet,” Rowling continued before she began making jokes with her fans about her hypothetical prison responsibilities.
“Hoping for the library, obviously, but I think I could do ok in the kitchen,” she said. “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.”
Rowling made her jail commitment in response to a photo she shared on X from the magazine Dazed, which in 2018 projected the phrase “Repeat after us: Trans Women are Women” onto the British Ministry of Justice’s offices. The shot was titled “No” by her.
