J.K. Rowling takes on Aussie non-binary activist

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling appears to have publicly criticised an Australian non-binary activist amid her ongoing and controversial transgender rows.

J.K. Rowling appears to be have thrown her support behind the criticism of an Australian non-binary activist after they explained the dilemma of choosing between a male or female public bathroom.

Deni Todorovič, who recently worked as a model for swimwear brand Seafolly, appeared on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, to discuss the challenges faced by transgender and non-binary people.

On the show, the podcast host and author said that stepping foot into public bathrooms can be complicated and even dangerous for the transgender community.

1./ How the entitlement of some gay men is trashing all our reputations. At the weekend, Deni Todorovic said it was dangerous for "them" to use a male toilet. But if it's dangerous for Deni to be with men in a toilet, how much more dangerous is it.... for women?👇
1 of /6 pic.twitter.com/NNRTONicmc

— Malcolm Clark (@TwisterFilm) April 4, 2023

A snippet of Todorovič’s appearance on Q&A was shared to Twitter by London documentary producer Malcolm Clark, who describes himself as a campaigner “against gender ideology”.

Mr Clark took aim at the activist.

In the tweet, he wrote: “The entitlement of some gay men is trashing all our reputations. At the weekend, Deni Todorovic said it was dangerous for “them” to use a male toilet. But if it’s dangerous for Deni to be with men in a toilet, how much more dangerous is it.... for women?

Rowling then retweeted Mr Clark’s thread of six tweets, with an emoji of a spool of thread. The emoji is used to indicate to Twitter uses that a post contains a thread of related tweets.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Picture: Debra Hurford Brown © JK Rowling

While appearing on Q&A, Todorovič elaborated on some of the issues trans people are faced with when it comes to using public bathrooms.

“If I’m at the Super Bowl, Rihanna’s concert, and I need to wee and I’m in 10-inch Manolo Blahnik shoes, I have to think, ‘Where am I going?’” they said.

“To the boys toilets? I have a willy so that’s where I should biologically go, but if I go there I’m going to be abused at the urinal.

“If I go to the cubicle, the security guard is going to think I’m doing things I shouldn’t do in there. So then I’m like, ‘Yeah I’ll go to the girls toilets.’

“But then if I go to the girls toilets what if there’s a little girl in there, what if her mum thinks I’m a paedo? Because that’s what the neo-Nazis said.”

Deni Todorovic appeared on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night. Picture: ABC

Rowling became the centre of a PR storm when, in June 2020, she mocked an article that used the phrase “people who menstruate”.

The billionaire Harry Potter author responded to the story on Twitter: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

In response to the backlash she wrote a 3600-word essay explaining why she was so “worried about the new trans activism” and the effort “to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender”.

Ms Rowling, who has strongly denied accusations of transphobia, described transgender women having access to female bathrooms as “[throwing] open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman”.

Ms Rowling’s 2020 novel Troubled Blood, which she published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, featured a cisgender male serial killer who dresses up as a woman to lure victims.

LGBTQI+ charity Mermaids branded this a “longstanding and somewhat tired trope, responsible for the demonisation of a small group of people”.

In the past, Rowling has also liked a tweet that referred to trans women as “men in dresses”.

Harry Potter cast members Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have all spoken out in support of the trans community in the wake of Rowling’s comments.

In February, Rowling addressed her controversial comments around transgender people in The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast, hitting out at those who claimed she “ruined” her legacy.

In the first two episodes of the podcast, the famous author said she “never set out to upset anyone” by repeatedly sharing her opinions on gender ideology – some of which people have branded “transphobic”.

Rowling said what has “interested” her in the past few years, particularly on social media, is the people saying, “You’ve ruined your legacy,” and “You could have been beloved forever but you chose to say this.”

“I think you could not have misunderstood me more profoundly,” she said.

“I do not walk around my house, thinking about my legacy. You know, what a pompous way to live your life walking around thinking, ‘What will my legacy be?’ Whatever, I’ll be dead. I care about now. I care about the living.”