21/08/2022
Joanne Harris, the chairperson of the Society of Authors, a trade union and support network for writers in the UK, has hit back after an astonishing personal attack on her by the anti-transgender activist Joanne Rowling, who fashions herself “JK” Rowling. According to the BBC News Channel, Rowling claimed that because Ms Harris has a trans son, she did not adequately support writers who were what she described as “gender critical”. Rowling has received apparently threatening remarks in the wake of a physical attack by a religious extremist on Salman Rushdie. Ms Harris responded clearly and succinctly, saying "We vigorously promote free speech. But free speech comes with an equal right to a response. JK Rowling has every right to her opinions. I may not share them, but that's fine. And I totally condemn any threats to her, as I do to anyone. I think the literary world can do better than this fabricated culture war, and that's what I'm trying to do." Meanwhile, gay and trans comments threads were electrified by the whole issue of Ms Rowling’s claims of being threatened. One gay man remarked “If Rowling distanced herself from the daily personal abuse levelled at trans women online by anti-trans weirdos on facebook and twitter, she might build some bridges with LGBT people”.
