J.K. Rowling's bigotry is painful and maddening (CNN Opinion)

[Mike 03]

CNN Opinion
Garrard Conley
Updated 6:24 AM ET, Wed July 8, 2020

On Sunday, "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling sent a tweet comparing gender-affirming medical care for trans people to the harmful practice of conversion therapy:

"Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalization that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function."

As a survivor of gay conversion therapy who has publicly spoken out against the practice for many years, I feel the need to correct Rowling's misusage of the term while also pointing out how this kind of language is incredibly harmful not only to trans people but also to a democratic society.

As a longtime fan of the "Harry Potter" books whose fundamentalist church once forbade me from reading Rowling's books on grounds of "indoctrination," this task of correcting the record strikes me as absurd and disheartening. This is not the first time Rowling has tweeted something widely criticized -- by fans, queer people, even some of the actors who portrayed her iconic characters -- as transphobic. None of the further pain and continued Twitter blowback had to happen if Rowling had simply considered the subject of trans experience with the same care and thoroughness she devoted to the craft of her books.

First, Rowling's comparison between legitimate medical transition care and "conversion therapy" erases the fact that the latter -- a harmful and problematic process that seeks to rid people of their authentic identities -- has long been used against trans people, often with horrific results. In fact, conversion therapy has historically targeted trans people at a higher rate than any other member of the LGBTQ spectrum. According to a 2015 survey from the American Journal of Public Health, "13.5% of transgender people in the United States reported lifetime exposure to this practice."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/07/opinions/jk-rowling-conversion-therapy-transphobia-conley/index.html

Editor's Note: Garrard Conley is an assistant professor of creative writing at Kennesaw State University. He is the author of the memoir "Boy Erased," adapted into a film of the same name. He is also the producer of Unerased: The History of Conversion Therapy in America. The views expressed here are the author's. Read more opinion on CNN.

Not a J.K. Rowling fan, but simply amazed she keeps digging herself deeper and deeper. I really don't understand why she feels compelled to pick the fights she is currently picking.

[Neoma]

1. I love her books, but.

I hate how she adds diversity after the fact, and her TERF views. It is hard to separate out of the Harry Potter realm when I have been a fan since I was 12 years old. I enjoy her books, but as far as I am concerned, she died after writing the 7th book of the series. Fuck her added facts. I don't need to know how wizards used to piss and shit.

[Beakybird]

2. She ain't using her wizard brain. She's using her lizard brain.

[RelativelyJones]

3. I think JK Rowling has been unfairly demonized.

[Docreed2003]

4. How so? Please share

[JarOCats]

5. Do tell. N/T

[RelativelyJones]

7. It is not an unreasonable position that treatments on under-18s is experimenting on children.

But all there seems to be is pure vitriol toward her.

[RelativelyJones]

9. Obviously, Rowling does not live in your state. This recent BBC report highlights the concern.

It has nothing to do with transphobia and everything to do with child welfare. Many children are encouraged to transition due to their parents' homophobia.

[RelativelyJones]

11. Simply because you designate it as an anti-trans talking point does not make it one. I would also

Like to welcome you to the debate and remind you that it is Indeed a debate and not a place whrrr you get to dictate.

[RelativelyJones]

14. Great way to distort what other people say. I said nothing about adults transitioning and you know

it. I was talking about under 18s who may be coming to terms with being gay, suffering body dysmorphia and perhaps issues of autism. You brush all this aside with an argument about transitioning broadly. You are arguing against a point I never made because apparently you can't bear disagreement, yet you pretend to be some noble advocate.

[RelativelyJones]

19. Trans people do not represent homophobia to me, nor is there anything in Rowling's comments to

lead to this conclusion. You simply cannot think clearly and prefer to make things up and then argue against those things. This is pointless. You are impossible to engage with and you simply resort to straw arguments. Talk about offensive...

[RelativelyJones]

15. She claims nothing of the sort.

[RelativelyJones]

18. Your quote " She even claims that the existence of one trans person annihilates the entire history

of all women throughout history." She said said nothing of the sort. Your hatred leads you to simply make things up.

[RelativelyJones]

23. You do realize TERF is a slur and deeply misogynistic, right?

[RelativelyJones]

25. Clearly you are very misogynistic. Goodbye.

[hunter]

27. Fixed link for DU...

https://medium.com/%40amydyess83/last-pride-a-lesbian-showed-me-gender-critics-were-using-us-c10bad16e9f9

I don't know what Rowling doesn't "get." This is perplexing.

[JarOCats]

6. It's impossible to understand why she keeps doubling down...

...and tripling, and quadrupling, and quintupling down. I had assumed she was a highly intelligent person, but she just keeps submarining herself.

A Twitter friend guessed that she's got a compulsion to have the last word. Maybe that's all it is.

In any case, she's destroyed her own reputation. Nobody else did it; in fact, most people I've noticed have bent over backwards to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she just continues to insist on wiping out any doubt.

[Jamastiene]

28. I got into a tangle with some of her followers on Twitter.

They are using the same exact talking points as the bigoted people in NC were using for that transgender bathroom bill. They are using identical right wing talking points to justify their bigotry.

What gets me is that so many states are using Covid-19 as an excuse to outright ban abortion right now, but feminists feel the need to infight and bicker and try to turn away support. All the while, they are using right wing groups' talking points, taken directly from the Republicans in NC and their anti-trans bathroom bill.

They are totally ignoring abortion rights while they spend so much time over another silly thing another TERF said. This reminds me of all of the infighting during the pubic hair wars a few years ago. What a clusterfuck that was. All I keep thinking when I think of the TERF phenom is the "What have you done for me lately?" line from that song. All they do is divide and conquer and get women infighting. I'm still suspicious of them, but I am suspicious by nature. That doesn't mean my suspicions are too off.

Meanwhile, rights are being lost and that little (actually, HUGE) factoid is being ignored.

When a bigoted jerk says something once, it is bad enough. All of the fans she has hurt with this nonsense are at risk now, because of her bigotry. They already have enough bigotry and hatred directed at them without her making it worse for them. When a bigoted jerk starts bringing it up over and over again, it's preaching, imo. She's preaching hatred now. She needs to stop for the sake of transgender women's mental health. She never gets to claim she cares about them after this, imo. In the past, she claimed to care about them. We see now she didn't mean that. She's endangering them, imo. It is disgusting.