Best-selling Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling mocked recent critics of her concerns about "gender recognition reform" in Scotland, saying when they threaten her with "being canceled," her "book sales go up."
Rowling made the comments in a recent interview with writer Suzanne Moore on Substack regarding criticism she has received, even from the movie franchise stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, for a series of tweets expressing concerns over pending Scottish Parliament legislation making it easier for trans people to get Gender Recognition Certificates, the Daily Mail reported.
"The only time I've ever made reference to being canceled, my book sales went up," Rowling said in the interview. "Why am I even laughing? I can't believe I'm saying these words. But you have to mock them. I do not consider myself canceled."
The interview comes as Rowling announced the opening of her self-funded Beira’s Place in Edinburgh, a shelter and treatment outlet for female abuse survivors, the BBC reported.
"I founded Beira's Place to provide what I believe is currently an unmet need for women in the Lothians area. As a survivor of sexual assault, myself, I know how important it is that survivors have the option of women-centered and women-delivered care at such a vulnerable time," she told the BBC. "Beira's Place will offer an increase in capacity for services in the area and will, I hope, enable more women to process and recover from their trauma."
In an essay following her tweets, Rowling said that while she feels empathy for trans people that have been abused or assaulted but feels the pending legislation could "throw open the doors" for biological men to abuse it and hurt women in single-sex only spaces like bathrooms.
"Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they're most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of color, are at particular risk. Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who've been abused by men," she said in her essay. "So, I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman – and, as I've said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones – then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth."
According to Scottish Parliament, the legislation created by the Labour Party, changes the process for a trans person to get a gender recognition certificate, which legally recognizes that the person’s chosen gender is different than the one assigned at birth, but is their "acquired gender."
The bill would reduce the time the process currently takes, reduce the age required from 18 to 16, and remove a requirement of a gender dysphoria medical diagnosis.
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