JK Rowling accused of transphobia after backing researcher sacked over gender tweet

JK Rowling is facing a backlash from the transgender community after the Harry Potter author supported a female researcher who said “men can’t change into women”.

JK Rowling has sparked a Twitter storm amid accusations of transphobia.

The Harry Potter author responded to a ruling which says that workforce employees could be sacked if they say that biological sex cannot be changed, reports The Sun.

It came after British think tank researcher Maya Forstater lost her job when she said “men cannot change into women” on social media.

JK Rowling is under fire over a tweet many consider transpobic. Picture: Supplied

Rowling offered her support to Forstater on Twitter.

She wrote: “Dress however you please.

“Call yourself whatever you like.

“Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.

“Live your best life in peace and security.

“But force women out of their jobs for stating that [biological] sex is real?”

Dress however you please.
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019

But her tweet has sparked a ton of angry responses – with many hitting out at the renowned author.

The phrase “JK Rowling is a TERF” has been trending on Twitter amid the storm.

TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

One Twitter user replied saying “everything you now stand for disgusts me”.

Work colleagues complained that British researcher Maya Forstater had been “transphobic” after she said that trans women were not women. Picture: Facebook

And another said that the writer was using social media to “further marginalise one of the most marginalised groups in society.”

Rowling has previously been accused of harbouring ant-transegnder views. In 2018, she liked a tweet from a political campaigner who was working to stop trans women from being included on the British Labour Party’s all-women shortlists, calling them “men in dresses”.

This tweet makes me think, with great sadness and fear, about a person I love, who is trans, and who has the same right to be treated with dignity in the workplace and elsewhere as you and I and indeed @jk_rowling. https://t.co/Gc8iLVNm2g

— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) December 19, 2019

If you're mad at JK Rowling being an enormous transphobe here's a thing you can and should do:

support trans writers. buy things written by trans writers. Review things written by trans writers. Recommend things written by trans writers. READ TRANS WRITERS

— Jingle Elle Maruska (they/them) (@ellle_em) December 19, 2019

Definition: “TERF” — trans-exclusionary radical feminist. JK Rowling, you are a TERF. Your violent denial of trans and non-binary existence is gravely disappointing yet unsurprising to our siblings who saw this coming. https://t.co/zI2PRpD4kV

— ACT UP NY (@actupny) December 19, 2019

At the time, Rowling’s spokesperson said that the author had “a clumsy, middle-aged moment” and had “favourited” the tweet by “holding her phone incorrectly”.

Ms Forstater was accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language on Twitter for saying “men cannot change into women”.

She went to an employment tribunal to fight her firing but was unsuccessful.

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JK Rowling has been accused of transphobia. Picture: Getty Images

Judge James Tayler decided that Ms Forstater’s view was “incompatible with human dignity and fundamental rights of others”

In a crowdfunder for her legal fees, Ms Forstater said she believes transgender people “should not face discrimination and harassment”.

But she said she is “concerned about the impact of self ID on women and girls”.

– with The Sun