LGBT rights advocate GLAAD has
criticized novelist J.K. Rowling's support for a British woman who
lost her job over transphobic tweets.
Maya Forstater lost her job as a tax
expert after tweeting that people cannot change their biological sex.
Forstater wrote that “framing the
question of transgender inclusion as an argument that male people
should be allowed into women's spaces discounts women's rights to
privacy and is fundamentally illiberal (it is like forcing Jewish
people to eat pork).”
Rowling, the author of the Harry
Potter and Fantastic Beasts series of novels, tweeted her
support for Forstater.
“Dress however you please. Call
yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll
have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women
out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya
#ThisIsNotADrill,” she wrote.
According to the Washington
Blade, GLAAD reached out to Rowling's team and asked for a
private meeting but was declined.
In a statement, the group criticized
Rowling's support for Forstater.
“J.K. Rowling, whose books gave kids
hope that they could work together to create a better world, has now
aligned herself with an anti-science ideology that denies the basic
humanity of people who are transgender,” GLAAD wrote. “Trans men,
trans women, and non-binary people are not a threat, and to imply
otherwise puts trans people at risk. Now is the time for allies who
know and support trans people to speak up and support their
fundamental right to be treated equally and fairly.”