MJ Rodriguez has some questions for JK Rowling

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez has some questions for J.K. Rowling.

To mark International Transgender Day of Visibility, the Loot star appears on the cover of Variety as part as the magazine’s Women of Power 2023 feature series. Asked what she thinks of the Harry Potter author, Rodriguez said that Rowling’s anti-trans attitude doesn’t faze her.

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“I’m not here for it,” she said. “I will always remain a trans woman. I will always call myself a trans woman. I will always refer to other biological women as cis women, in a non-derogatory way. But I’m a strong girl. I’m a strong woman. I was raised by a strong Black woman, which J.K. Rowling was not. I would love to have a conversation with her.”

Rowling, of course, has been outspoken about her fear-mongering anti-trans views since publishing a long essay in 2020 asserting, among other things, that trans women aren’t real women.

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Rodriguez went on to imagine what she would say to Rowling if she ever got a chance to have that conversation.

“I would start off with something that’s very lighthearted, just to let her know I’m not someone who is abrasive or who is intimidating, because I’m sure there are trans people who are intimidating her a little bit and making her feel this way,” the Golden Globe-winning actress explained. “I would first start off by saying, ‘Girl, OK, tell me what is the tea? Is there a trans person in your life that’s really making you feel a certain type of way about your womanhood? Because I can promise you that there are other trans women who will show you what it’s actually like to walk in our shoes. Because I can promise you, as a cis biological woman, you just will never understand, just as we will never understand you. But we’re women, so we have to be there for each other.’”

Rodriguez also gave a shout-out to Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, who have been fierce defenders of trans rights since their daughter Zaya came out as trans.

“I saw Dwyane and Gabrielle recently and had to let them know personally, ‘Thank you,’” Rodriguez recalled. “Because there’s a stigma within the African American community. And it’s so beautiful to see a Black family like theirs speak about their child, Zaya, with love, and for them to say, ‘I’m here for my child, and anything that tries to come against her, it shall not prosper. She will prosper.’”

“Zaya is the hope and beacon for a lot of trans youth that will be looking up to her when she gets to my age,” she continued. “Which is very young, just to let you know.”