JK Rowling returns award amid trans row criticism

Author has caused controversy with her remarks on transgender people

JK Rowling is returning an award associated with the Kennedy family, amid the ongoing debate surrounding her views on transgender issues.

Earlier this month, Kerry Kennedy – president of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights organisation – said that the author’s remarks “diminished the identity” of trans people.

Previous recipients of the award include Barack Obama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“I have spoken with JK Rowling to express my profound disappointment that she has chosen to use her remarkable gifts to create a narrative that diminishes the identity of trans and non-binary people, undermining the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community,” Kennedy said.

“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.”

She added that the organisation categorically rejected Rowling’s view that a person’s sex is the one they were assigned at birth.

“The science is clear and conclusive: Sex is not binary,” she wrote.

Kerry Kennedy has responded to Rowling’s views on transgender people (Getty)

Rowling, who was given the Ripple of Hope Award last year, has now responded in a blog post on her website. She said Kennedy’s implication that she is transphobic is “incorrect”.

She also disagreed that “there is no conflict between the current radical trans rights movement and the rights of women”, claiming “thousands of women” had contacted her to express their support and call for a more nuanced debate.

“Clinicians, academics, therapists, teachers, social workers, and staff at prisons and women’s refuges have also contacted me,” Rowling said.

“These professionals, some at the very top of their organisations, have expressed serious concerns about the impact of gender identity theory on vulnerable adolescents and on women’s rights, and of the dismantling of safeguarding norms which protect the most vulnerable women.

Rowling attracted a backlash earlier this year with another blog post, which said her interest in trans issues were linked to her being a survivor of abuse, and her concerns surrounding single-sex spaces.

“I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them,” she wrote. “At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”

Many stars of the film adaptation of Rowling’s Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Eddie Redmayne and Rupert Grint, shared statements distancing themselves from her comments.