JK Rowling is no conservative, in either the American or the British sense of the word. I would probably disagree with her on more issues of the day than I might agree with her on; that's a certainty. But when she's right, she's right, and on the issues around "gender theory," she's so right on things like men on women's sports teams and in women's locker rooms, she's so right as to make up for a lot of disagreement on other topics.
I'm also told she's a pretty fair writer. I wouldn't know; tales of tousled-hair teenaged wizards aren't my cup of tea. But my kids have read all of the Harry Potter stories, and they remain favorites of all four of our girls, who are in their 30s and 40s now. So, that's a pretty fair recommendation.
But these works have left JK Rowling with vast resources, and she's used them to fight the good fight on the issues of gender. Her latest intervention is on behalf of an orphaned 13-year-old English girl, dropped into an all-boys housing unit in Scotland.
JK Rowling has offered to fund a legal fight against a secure unit that housed a 13-year-old girl alongside older male teenagers.
Human rights inspectors found an orphaned girl – who had been transferred to St Mary’s Kenmure in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, from England – was placed in the same accommodation block as boys aged between 15 and 17.
The girl complained about feeling unsafe, as the older boys were young offenders, but her request to move had been denied, inspectors from the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture found.
Of course, she felt unsafe! A 13-year-old girl, all alone in the world, dropped into a ward full of boys, some of whom, it seems, had criminal offenses on their record? It would be more astounding if she didn't feel unsafe, and not in the sense that Sunny Hostin feels unsafe when she sees an American flag. No, this girl had every reason to feel unsafe, and St. Mary's denial of her request to be moved elsewhere is inexplicable.
Enter JK Rowling:
The revelations prompted Rowling to say she would be willing to fund a new round of legal action against the unit, which is used to house troubled teenagers.
Responding to a report detailing the findings in the Sunday Express, the Harry Potter author wrote on X: “Who does it hurt if we make every space mixed sex?
“This is who it hurts: the most vulnerable; those without power and influence; the invisible people politicians don’t bother to consider when chasing likes and photo ops.”
This is what JK Rowling does, and we should rightly admire her for her tireless and well-funded efforts.
Read More: J.K. Rowling Is Right: Euphemisms Hide Harm to Women
True Grit: Harry Potter Author Schools Podcasters on Gender Reality
But this is just part of a larger issue, that being this persistent effort to blur the lines between the sexes.
We see it in both the Old and New Worlds. We see it in the persistent efforts of the left to preserve the lunatic practice of letting boys and men compete on girls' and women's sports teams. We see it in the persistent efforts to force girls and women to put up with those same boys and men in their locker rooms, their changing rooms, their showers. We see it even in entertainment, where a scrawny, sickly girl who claims to be a man was cast as a Greek warrior out of legend in a recent film. We see it in every nitwit who crows about their pronouns, who claims to be "gender-fluid," as though one can change sex at a whim, depending on how one feels when they wake up in the morning.
Sex isn't like indigestion. It doesn't come and go. It is innate, and it is immutable. These are facts.
St. Mary's, where that English girl was housed, has a laundry list of other problems as well:
Two years ago, St Mary’s, which caters for up to 24 residents, was ordered by Scotland’s Care Inspectorate to stop accepting new admissions because of a serious risk to residents’ lives.
The Council of Europe inspectors, who toured the facility last year, wrote: “At the time of the visit, St Mary’s held an orphaned, English 13-year-old girl (the only girl) sent by English social services due to a lack of provision.
“To avoid isolating her, she was held with sentenced and remanded boys aged between 15 and 17 years old. She had officially complained about being held with young offender adolescent boys and ‘not feeling safe, due to past bad experiences’ and had requested transfer to the empty houseblock.
“The request had been denied.”
That's insane. There are levels of insanity here that beggar description. She was put in with older boys, between 15 and 17 - remember, she was 13 - to avoid "isolating" her. That's the first level of insanity. She clearly would have preferred isolation, as she asked to be moved to an empty block of rooms, but that request was denied. That's the second level of insanity. Then, they tried to defend their actions with a spew of word salad:
A spokesman for St Mary’s Kenmure told The Times: “While we do not comment on the circumstances of individual children, the safety, wellbeing and protection of every child in our care is our first and immediate priority.
“All placements are subject to careful assessment and matching processes involving the placing authority and our own multidisciplinary teams.”
That's the third level of insanity, and it's pure horse squeeze. No rational person, genuinely concerned with the safety, wellbeing and protection of a 13-year-old girl, would house her alone among a group of 15-17-year-old boys, some of whom had criminal records.
This is a grotesque perversion of the notion of caring for, actually caring for, troubled and orphaned children. That's what JK Rowling is fighting. And all I can add to that is, good for her. She has earned our admiration.
