So someone told you supporting Harry Potter is anti-trans

You’re here because someone told you that supporting Harry Potter is anti-trans, and you either asked for more information or decided to argue about it. Maybe you never heard that before, or maybe you disagree because you don’t buy licensed merchandise or you separate the art from the artist or your trans friend/cousin/neighbor’s coworker’s sister doesn’t see the problem and loves Harry Potter, actually.

As a trans man who runs in nerd circles, I’ve had this conversation/argument/discussion more times than I can count, so I decided to write it all out so I never have to waste my time and energy on it again.

What’s the issue?

J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter book series, is one of the most prolific and prominent anti-trans activists alive today. She has made anti-trans blog entries, Twitter/X posts, and podcast appearances. She’s donated to anti-transgender organizations and causes, harassed both cis and trans women for not meeting her standards of female appearance, and publicly supported laws that strip trans adults and children of their freedoms. Her words have been cited on the floors of both the UK Parliament and the US Congress in support of passing such laws.

Fortunately, I don’t need to list all of her anti-trans statements and acts here, because others have already compiled them.¹

• Is J.K. Rowling transphobic? Let’s let her speak for herself. (Vox News)ᴾ “An exhausting — if not exhaustive — timeline of J.K. Rowling’s transphobia” dating from the publication of her 2014 novel Silkworm to her harassment of Imane Khelif in August 2024.
• J.K. Rowling’s transphobic comments: a timeline (The Week)ᴾ “A collection of the ‘Harry Potter’ author’s anti-trans remarks” from March 2018 to November 2024 at time of posting.

Hopefully after looking through all that, you will accept the premise that Rowling is loudly, openly, and dangerously hostile to transgender people, no matter how many times she professes not to be. If not, well, I’m not going to break down why each thing listed in the above articles is transphobic, because that’s a whole other kind of education for which books² have been written.

You cannot separate the art from the artist while the artist still profits.

As demonstrated in the section above, J.K. Rowling uses her wealth and notoriety to advocate against transgender rights. Buying licensed works contributes directly to her wealth through continued royalties, which she uses to donate to anti-trans causes and to fund her own anti-trans work.

But direct monetary gain, while significant, isn’t the only benefit she enjoys from the franchise’s continued popularity. As long as the Harry Potter IP remains a significant force in popular culture, her voice continues to carry weight. She continues to have a platform because her work’s popularity gives her one.

While fans continue making and consuming works celebrating her creation, whether officially licensed or not, the franchise maintains its popularity. As long as this continues, companies from Funko Pop to HBO will continue pumping out merchandise and media, brushing aside her transphobia as an ignorable inconvenience that clearly doesn’t affect their bottom line, and Rowling will continue to profit with both money and fame.

I will also note here that in addition to the author’s transphobia, Harry Potter as a work is riddled with deeply-rooted sexism, racism, classism, antisemitism, and fatphobia. Breaking these down is not the purpose of this post, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the “art” itself is hardly free from criticism, once one looks beyond a surface-level, middle-school analysis of the major themes.

Well my neighbor’s cousin’s trans best-friend doesn’t have a problem with it.

“I know a trans person who disagrees” isn’t an argument. Just because you know a trans person who doesn’t have a problem with supporting the work of someone trying to strip us of our rights, that doesn’t absolve you of thinking for yourself about the issue. There are as many trans opinions about trans issues as their are trans people in the world; some of them are bad. It’s up to you to decide which ones to listen to.

What about all the queer kids who found solace in Harry Potter’s story?

I truly do understand relating to a boy forced to live in a literal closet until a kind stranger taught him there was nothing wrong with him and he was worthy of love. I understand taking solace in a magical world where kids look out for each other and go on adventures to solve the big, frightening issues of the world.

But there are other books with those themes, and there are real kids in the real world who are being directly harmed by the words and actions of J.K. Rowling. The day I’m writing this, the UK just outlawed puberty blockers for trans kids nationwide — due largely to the efforts of Rowling herself. In the US, also today, the House of Representatives just passed a spending bill to disallow the military’s health care system from providing gender-affirming care to the children of service members — I personally know two families this will impact directly.

This is not a theoretical or hypothetical moral dilemma. This is a current, real-world issue with direct, material impact on real people.

In summary…

Transgender people are under attack at a legislative level. Thanks to anti-trans rhetoric, our rights to health care, to participate in sports, to equal employment, to even simply use the bathroom outside our homes are all in jeopardy.

So if you could stop supporting, celebrating, and funding the work of one of the most vehement and effective transphobes on earth, we’d greatly appreciate it.

Footnotes

¹ Dates listed refer to the articles most recent updates at the time I referenced them for this post. Superscript Ps (ᴾ) link to the most recent Web Archive of the articles at time of posting.

² I recommend He/She/They by Schuyler Bailar and The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye. Also just about anything by Julia Serano.

Bonus Star Trek meme

This post was published simultaneously on my personal blog.