I've never read a Harry Potter book, but I'm rapidly becoming a big J.K. Rowling fan. Oh, I know there are plenty of issues I'd disagree with her on; I imagine, for example, her take on Second Amendment issues would be dramatically different than mine. But that's OK; there are other points she gets right, and one of those seems to be her major issue at the moment.
In a recent thread on X/Twitter, the author made some comments on Scotland's new Hate Crime Law, and as usual, she was eloquent and to the point.
Scotland's Hate Crime Act comes into effect today. Women gain no additional protections, of course, but well-known trans activist Beth Douglas, darling of prominent Scottish politicians, falls within a protected category. Phew! 1/11 pic.twitter.com/gCKGwdjr5m
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 1, 2024
Read the whole thread, by all means, but I'll give you the broad strokes.
Rowling launched into this, of course, as a criticism of Scotland's new hate crime law, which would (we hope) run afoul of the First Amendment here in the United States, but free speech isn't a thing in Scotland. But better than that, she is naming names. When it comes to calling out the bizarre side of the "transgender" issue, J.K. Rowling brings receipts.
Lovely Scottish lass and convicted double rapist Isla Bryson found her true authentic female self shortly before she was due to be sentenced. Misgendering is hate, so respect Isla’s pronouns, please. Love the leggings!
Isla Bryson is a "transgender" double rapist who was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping two women in Clydebank and Glasgow when he was still known as "Adam Graham." Mr. Graham - no, I will not indulge his fraud - suddenly decided he was "transgender," so he was originally placed in a women's prison. Yes, a rapist was placed in a women's prison, although the Scottish justice system at some point had a sudden rush of brains to the head and moved him to a men's prison. But we must respect Bryson's pronouns, or else it's a hate crime!
See Related: J.K. Rowling Reported to UK Police for 'Misgendering' Transgender Newscaster, but Will Not Concede
FAFO Time: J.K. Rowling Goes Gloves Off on Woke Pro-Trans Activist Who Went After Her Daughter
Rowling goes on to mention a pedophile and sexual predator who now resides in a women's prison:
Fragile flower Katie Dolatowski, 6'5", was rightly sent to a women's prison in Scotland after conviction. This ensured she was protected from violent, predatory men (unlike the 10-year-old girl Katie sexually assaulted in a women's public bathroom.)
Katie Dolatowski is a convicted pedophile, who while serving time in a man's prison (rightfully) for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl, attacked another inmate after "comments" were made - and has now been moved to a women's prison, despite being a man.
And Rowling doesn't miss the "dudes in women's sports" issue:
But most women aren’t axe-toters or sex offenders, so let’s talk role models! Guilia Valentino (in red) wanted to play on the women's team 'because of sisterhood, validation and political visibility'. Naturally, she was given some boring cis girl’s place. Yay for inclusion!
Guilia Valentino is an Irish footballer who was on a women's team when a referee halted the game, pointing out that Valentino didn't quite fit in: "The player is a man." This is belaboring the obvious, but now, under this new law, that referee would be guilty of a hate crime.
J.K. Rowling, at the end of the thread, says the quiet part out loud: all of these people are men.
Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren't women at all, but men, every last one of them. In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls. The new legislation is wide open to abuse by activists who wish to silence those of us speaking out about the dangers of eliminating women's and girls’ single-sex spaces, the nonsense made of crime data if violent and sexual assaults committed by men are recorded as female crimes, the grotesque unfairness of allowing males to compete in female sports, the injustice of women’s jobs, honours and opportunities being taken by trans-identified men, and the reality and immutability of biological sex.
This act and the social contagion that prompts it are precisely as Rowling describes. This piece of legislation fundamentally violates the principle of equal treatment under the law, not to mention being contrary to reality.
Look, J.K. Rowling is no conservative, not even as the British define the term. But she makes some great points here, calling out the fact that this Act provides legal protection to sexual predators who are claiming aggrieved status based on being "transgender," and at least one of the named sexual predators, a man, is now ensconced in a women's prison. This Act will result in more of these kinds of travesties, along with aggravating the "dudes in women's sports" issue. And never mind the stupidity of "hate crimes" laws in the first place; the very idea that someone can be treated differently under the law for thinking bad things or saying bad things is anathema to a free society.
Remember when Scotland was a respectable place, populated by men and women?
One has to wonder what William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Rob Roy would think of Scotland today.
I've never read a Harry Potter book. I likely never will. But her stance on this issue is making me a fan of J.K. Rowling nonetheless.
