JK Rowling says she’d happily go to prison for misgendering a trans person

Transphobic millionaire author JK Rowling has said she’ll happily spend two years in prison for deliberately misgendering a transgender person.

She said this in reference to reports that the UK’s Labour Party is considering increasing sentencing guidelines for violence and hate speech against trans people. Similar hate speech sentencing in the UK can punish offenders with up to two years in prison, community service, probation, fines, or some combination of all four.

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“I promise to always speak the truth: that a man is an adult human male and a woman is an adult human female,” one of the men said in their vows.

“I’ll happily do two years if the alternative is compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex,” Rowling wrote in an October 17 tweet. “Bring on the court case, I say. It’ll be more fun than I’ve ever had on a red carpet.”

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In a follow-up tweet musing on what job she would have in prison, she wrote, “Hoping for the library, obviously, but I think I could do ok in the kitchens. Laundry might be a problem. I have a tendency to shrink stuff/turn it pink accidentally. Guessing that won’t be a major issue if it’s mostly scrubs and sheets, though.”

The Daily Mail noted that UK courts have overturned at least two convictions against anti-trans folks who deliberately misgender trans people.

In 2019, Rowling revealed her anti-trans views by tweeting her support for an anti-transgender activist. Since then, she hasn’t stopped attacking transgender people. She regularly spreads fearmongering misinformation about how trans women would potentially commit assaults if allowed in women’s restrooms, has written long essays denigrating trans women, repeats baseless conspiracy theories about kids being coerced into transitioning, and promotes transphobic merchandise vendors on social media.

Rowling has also liked transphobic tweets in the past and has tweeted that “sex is real”, a common statement used by the anti-trans right to imply that sex assigned at birth determines a person’s entire life, effectively erasing gender identity. Rowling is also online friends with anti-trans activists like Helen Joyce, who has called for a “reduction” in the number of trans people. Rowling has also publicly tweeted her support for anti-gay, anti-trans activist Caroline Farrow. 

In May 2020, Rowling commented on a nine-year-old girl’s drawing with an anti-transgender message that included the f-bomb and extremist rhetoric. Rowling later apologized on Twitter to the girl’s parents and offered to send them an autographed copy of one of her books.

In June 2020, she tweeted, “I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans.” But to this day, there is no record of Rowling ever marching in solidarity against transphobia.

Her transphobic comments have led several stars of the Harry Potter film franchise to distance themselves from the author and her views.