Surge Summary: “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is in big trouble with the LGBTQ set: She had the temerity to defend a woman who was fired from her job for saying she believed biological sex can’t be changed. Who are the fascists here?
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is in hot water with bunches of the LGBTQ community. She’s apparently committed an unpardonable sin against sexual anarchist orthodoxy, siding with a researcher who lost her job for tweeting that you can’t change biological sex.The researcher in question is Maya Forstater, a tax expert who had been a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development before her dismissal, according to The Guardian. In her Twitter bio, she describes herself as a feminist. She was let go from her work when, in a social media post that went viral, she wrote, “[M]en cannot change into women.”
What I am so surprised at is that smart people who I admire, who are absolutely pro-science in other areas, and champion human rights & womens rights are tying themselves in knots to avoid saying the truth that men cannot change into women (because that might hurt mens feelings)
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) September 30, 2018
Why is she surprised? Has she been snoozing through the last decade of LGBTQ bullying?
Reportedly, early Thursday morning Rowling got involved when she rebuked Forstater’s company for “forc[ing] women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real.” Her tweet featured the hashtag #IStandWithMaya.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— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019
Over at Faithwire, Tré Goins-Phillips continues with the details: The 45-year-old tax expert challenged her dismissal but, in a generally incomprehensible ruling, employment judge James Tayler ultimately determined
Yikes! Where’s the absolutism here? Maybe in the fascistic lavender lobby who will allow no divergence of opinion on their fanatical, reality-dismissing cause? What about Ms. Forstater’s “dignity”? Who is creating the intimidating and degrading environment in this exchange of ideas, Your Honor?Forstater’s firing was permissible because her views are “absolutist” and did “not have the protected characteristic of philosophical belief.” Tayler went on to argue Forstater’s perspective, revealed by her tweet, violates a person’s “dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.”
Could these trans-supporting shock-forces be any less self-aware?
The misguided jurist wasn’t alone in his opinion, either. Irrationality is rampant in high — and low — places nowadays.
The left-leaning LGBTQ advocacy organization the Human Rights Campaign, for instance, had this comment, criticizing Rowling for coming to Forstater’s defense:
Trans women are women.
Trans men are men.
Non-binary people are non-binary.CC: JK Rowling.
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) December 19, 2019
And folks choosing to live in an alternate reality are folks choosing to live in an alternate reality.
CC: Human Rights Campaign: Just saying something doesn’t make it so.
I used to have JK Rowling on my dream-dinner-party list because I wanted to hear all about her story ideas, etc.
Now she's on my dream-dinner-party list because I want to patiently sit with an Old Fashioned and be like "Joanne, here's the thing. No."
— Ellen Rose 🎄 (@icklenellierose) December 19, 2019
An “Old Fashioned”? Is that the latest slur for someone who states the obvious? Whose eyes are open and whose brain is engaged? Snarkiness doesn’t overturn the way things actually are.
as Dumbledore said “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
today, we're being brave and standing up against you + your transphobia @jk_rowling
i am heartbroken
you used to be a hero of mine https://t.co/nq3FKP7vnv— Jacob "Double Trouble" Tobia (@JacobTobia) December 19, 2019
Mr. “Double Trouble”‘s hysteria is honestly a bit too much to take.
Point of fact, the Dumbledore quote could quite appropriately apply to Ms. Rowling who has dared to go against the grain of her legions of “woke” fans.
Sure, let’s take a perfectly worthy idea – Don’t place unreasonable restrictions on others – and blow it up into a cartoonish excuse to pretend reality isn’t a thing. Whatever could go wrong there?
With J.K. Rowling's defense of horrible transphobia, there are folks claiming trans people aren't valid and citing "science"… except medical and other scientific experts disagree with that completely. Here's a helpful list of what the experts think about trans folks. (thread)
— Charlotte Clymer🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) December 19, 2019
Right, cause nothing says “science” – love the scare quotes – like bothering to admit the validity of pesky details involving chormosomes and physical biological characteristics.
Rowling’s tweet drew so much ire, even GLAAD offered to host an “off-the-record discussion” between the popular author and transgender people. … Rowling’s reps declined. More here: https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/glaad-j-k-rowling-anti-trans-researcher-1203448964/ …
So far, Rowling’s tweet has been retweeted more than 17,000 times and boasts more than 86,500 likes.
(There’s reason in that last statistic for us to have hope.)
Forstater, for her part, rightly observes she is “shock[ed]” and in “disbelief” over the judge’s ruling against her.
She went on to tell The Guardian, “My belief … is that sex is a biological fact, and is immutable. There are two sexes, male and female. Men and boys are male. Women and girls are female. It is impossible to change sex. These were until very recently understood as basic facts of life by almost everyone.”
Revolutionary statements, those – since “until very recently” human beings were allowed to affirm what is right in front of them, everywhere around them, every day. Until, that is, trans-insanity eclipsed that privilege.
“This judgment removes women’s rights and the right to freedom of belief and speech,” Forstater added. “It gives judicial license for women and men who speak up for objective truth and clear debate to be subject to aggression, bullying, no-platforming, and economic punishment.”
Forstater informs she is consulting with her legal team to determine next steps.
H/T: Faithwire/Tré Goins-Phillips
Image: Adapted from: S.macken6 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76861881
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