J.K. Rowling has found a new way to spend Harry Potter money on the anti-trans movement: offering to bankroll groups angry that Amnesty International UK briefly called them “anti-rights.”
The report, titled “A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK,” was removed shortly after publication. Amnesty UK said it had been uploaded without the organization’s established internal review process and that the language did not reflect Amnesty UK’s position. The withdrawal has not stopped groups named in the report from demanding apologies or threatening legal action.
The Times reported that the withdrawn report named groups including For Women Scotland, Beira’s Place, and Murray Blackburn Mackenzie as “anti-rights” actors. PinkNews reported that Beira’s Place, the women-only sexual assault support service founded by Rowling, was among the organizations labeled before Amnesty removed the document.
Amnesty published a report, pulled it, and admitted its process failed. Rowling looked at the retraction and apparently decided what the moment needed was more lawyers. Not debate. Not correction. Not “here is why you are wrong.” Lawyers. Enough lawyers to make a human-rights nonprofit spend money explaining that maybe calling anti-trans groups anti-rights was too on the nose.
The apology was free. The litigation will not be.
40 years ago, when my then 10 year old was having trouble getting into reading, I got a copy of the first Harry Potter book. It hadn't become the mega hit that it is now, but it sounded interesting. It was one of the books* that finally made my girl WANT to read. She found friends with other Harry lovers. They went to the midnight events that Barnes and Noble threw for the first release of a volume.
It is sad that a woman who brought so much joy has turned into someone who has decided to use her wealth and privilege to actively hurt people. Not only the minority group she hates, but any group that defends that minority. What a petty, hateful, as in full of hate, woman.
*Ella Enchanted was the book that sealed the deal. It is a much better book by a better author who is a much better person, in case anyone is looking for a better book for a kid.