British television personality India Willoughby said she reported “Harry Potter” author Rowlingwho has shared anti-trans rhetoric in recent years, to British law enforcement for misinterpreting it on social networks.
Willoughby, co-host of popular ITV network show 'Loose Women', revealed in an interview with Byline TV posted on Wednesday that she “reported JK Rowling to the police for what she said.” Willoughby added that she contacted Northumbria Police “yesterday” about the matter.
The “Loose Women” co-host's name came up Monday, after another social media user shared a GIF of Willoughby dancing in a comments thread under one of Rowling's posts on X, formerly Twitter. British author replied“India has not become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.”
In the interview, Willoughby said: “The fact that JK Rowling is deliberately misleading me into knowing who I am is extremely offensive. It is a hate crime.
“I don't know if (the police report) will be treated as a hate crime, a malicious communication, but it's an offense plain and simple, as far as I'm concerned,” she said.
USA TODAY has contacted representatives of ITV, Rowling and Northumbria Police for comment.
JK Rowling responds to India Willoughby's social media claims
Following Willoughby's interview, Rowling turned to X with a five-part answer Wednesday, which began with the writer claiming she had “a clearly winnable case against India Willoughby for defamation” and that “India's obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may rise to the legal threshold of harassment “.
In the following articles, Rowling wrote that “the Forstater decision established that critical gender views can be protected by law as a philosophical belief. No law requires anyone to claim to believe that India is a woman.”
The Forstater decision she referenced was a 2021 case in which an employment appeal tribunal found that “gender critical beliefs, which include the belief that sex is immutable and should not be confused with gender identity”, were protected by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the Section of the Equality Act 2010 on “religion or belief”.
“This judgment does not mean that those with critical gender beliefs can ‘misrepresent’ trans people with impunity,” the judgment states. “The claimant, like everyone else, will continue to be subject to the prohibitions on discrimination and harassment that apply to everyone.”
Rowling continued“Aware that lying to law enforcement is a crime, I will simply have to explain to the police that, in my opinion, India is a classic example of the narcissistic man who lives in a state of perpetual rage who he cannot force women to take him at his own value.”
Rowling has been heavily criticized – and just as heavily defended – since she posted a series of posts in 2020 that conflated sex and gender and championed ideas suggesting that changing one's biological sex threatens one's own gender identity. Since then, Rowling has become increasingly vocal about her anti-trans beliefs.
JK Rowling's post sparked 'deluge' of 'absolutely disgusting' comments, says India Willoughby
In her Byline TV interview, Willoughby described Rowling's post as “insulting. It's so dehumanizing. And I'm really sick of it. And ultimately, it's a hate crime. Transgender identity is a protected characteristic, just what race is, just like sexuality.”
She added: “I am a woman, no matter what JK Rowling says. I have experienced everything that is expected of me. My birth certificate says female, my passport. I am legally recognized like a woman.”
Rowling's X-rated post sparked a wave of comments on social media that Willoughby called “absolutely disgusting, putrid, some of the worst abuse I've ever seen on social media.”
“It’s really hard to have this deluge,” she shared. “Transphobia is not taken seriously” in the UK, she concluded.
According to documents published by the UK Government Equalities Office in 2018, 41% of transgender people reported in a national survey that they had been victims of a hate crime or incident because of their gender identity in the previous year. “Sex change” is a characteristic protected by law. Equality Act 2010which “legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in society in general.”
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JK Rowling's comments on transgender people date back to 2019
Rowling was first criticized in 2019 for posting on X a message of support for Maya Forstater, a researcher who lost her job at a think tank for saying that people cannot change their biological sex.
In response, GLAAD shared a statement condemning Rowling for aligning herself “with an anti-scientific ideology that denies the basic humanity of transgender people.” Trans men, trans women and non-binary people are not a threat, and implying otherwise is trans people at risk.
A few months later, Rowling made a similar noise when criticizing a headline on the website. devex.com. The opinion piece included the phrase “people who menstruate” to be more inclusive. “I'm sure there was a word for these people,” Rowling posted on X. “Someone help me. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
After facing backlash, Rowling stood her ground, saying her life “has been shaped by being a woman” and defended exclusionary comments while saying she still supports transgender people .
“I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of gender removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives,” she wrote in a statement. series of messages. “It's not hate to tell the truth…I respect every trans person's right to live in a way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I would walk with you if you were discriminated against because you are trans. at the same time, my life has been shaped by being a woman. I don't think it's hateful to say that.
Last year, Rowling responded to criticism she is received on the podcast “The Witch Trials by JK Rowling“.
“I absolutely knew that if I spoke out, a lot of people who would like my books would be deeply unhappy with me,” Rowling said. “Time will tell if I was wrong. I can only say that I thought about it deeply, hard and long and listened, I promise, to the other side.”
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Contributors: Barbara VanDenburgh and Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY
