Why J.K. Rowling’s Words Hurt The LBGT+ Community & Destroyed the Message of the Harry Potter Series
I like many grew up reading the Harry Potter series when it became popular in the US back in the late 90s and watching the films as they were released and being caught up in the magical world and the titular character’s escape from his abusive and neglectful family and joining a community where he was somebody.
The Messages in Harry Potter
First I want to talk about the messages of Harry Potter.
First is the titular character, Harry Potter, many of us who are LGBT could relate to Harry because he was an outcast who was bullied by his own cousin and in school for his odd appearance and being different. All of us who are LGBT+ felt this way growing up and dealt with bullying on such a level to where we were beat up just like Harry.
Next we have the discrimination of the Muggleborns or as they were called by those who hated them “Mudbloods”, all of us who are LGBT+ know what is it is like to be discriminated against by those who are homophobic and being called a “f*ggot” or “queer” or “gay” or “homo” and so on and so forth. This is why many of us in the LGBT+ community could relate to Hermoine Granger as we all know what it is like to be discriminated and called names.
Then we got Ron Weasley who represents those LGBT+ who are tossed out on the street by homophobic parents or are in poverty and have to wear hand-me-downs or not the best outfits like those more privileged and have been picked on for that.
The three main characters of the book and film series all embodied the hatred, discrimination and under privileged we in the LGBT+ community face on a daily bases and brings them to light.
They also show that bullying, hatred, discrimination and intolerance are taught as depicted by the characters of Dudley Dursley and Draco Malfoy, Dudley, Harry’s cousin, who was taught by his parents to discriminate against his own cousin for being a wizard and Malfoy who was taught to hate Muggleborns by his. They also show that these people can be changed if something drastic happens that makes them question their upbringing, for Dudley it was the Dementor attack in The Order of the Phoenix and for Malfoy it was being saved by Harry, Ron and Hermoine in The Deathly Hallows.
Rowling also introduced a gay character into the series who’s back story and love affair with the dark wizard Grindelwald is being explored in the new Wizarding World film series, Fantastic Beast, the greatest headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore.
Where J.K. Rowling Went Wrong
Now on December 19, Rowling took to Twitter to support a person who is clearly transphobic Maya Forstater.
Her Tweet reads as such:
This statement destroys the whole thing Harry Potter taught many of us who were LGBT+ and that the titular character embodied: tolerance, acceptance and love for those who are different or not as well off.
This tweet standing by and up for a person who stated that people who are transgender women, men who identify as women, cannot change their sex, a lie of course as transgender women can transition into women by taking hormonal pills, getting breast implants and even functioning female genitalia, though this process can and is very expensive for those who cannot afford to do so.
It has come down to that all transpeople want to do is use the bathroom that associated to the gender they identify with and just go take a pee or go number two and respecting what a person wants to identify as.
J.K. Rowling standing with a woman who straight out does not want to acknowledge a person who wants to be addressed as a woman is a slap in the face to all LGBT+ Harry Potter fans and completely contradicts everything that her books and films stood for.
In Conclusion
I doubt I am the only LGBT+ who fell in love with Harry Potter because of how relatable the characters are and that it shows a lot of real world struggles many of us face so I know her tweet came as a disappointment to many of us.
I do agree that because she has these views towards transgenders that I will no longer be seeing any of the Fantastic Beast films or buying any Harry Potter products but I will not go as far as to say she should be censored with being banned from being published or making anymore films cause fighting fire with fire won’t work.
It honestly is a sad day for so many LGBT+ Harry Potter fans. I hope some day J.K. Rowling will see the pain she caused so many of her fans with her tweet and will come out and apologize and fight for our rights but for now we must all just hang our heads in sadness as we come to realize the fiction she wrote was nothing but that, fiction, and that she didn’t want to bring awareness of real world issues of intolerance, discrimination and hatred to the forefront like we saw in the book and film series.
