British author J.K. Rowling says women should be free to recognize and say that men are males, even when the men declare themselves to be transgender women.
A Tweet by the influential author of the Harry Potter stories affirming her position was posted after a U.K. employment judge allowed an employer to fire a woman for saying a man’s claim to have an opposite-sex “gender” does not actually change his biological sex.
The U.K. judge declared the fired woman, Maya Forstater, “is absolutist in her view of sex and it is a core component of her belief that she will refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.”
“The approach is not worthy of respect in a democratic society,” the judge declared.
The judge’s moral claim prompted much pushback among women who say women’s rights depend on a clear recognition that women’s sex and biology are different from men’s sex and biology — even though both sexes are different complementary and equal.
Rowling tweeted her support for Forstater’s free speech:
Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill
Dress however you please.
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019
Forstater also slammed the verdict, declaring “I struggle to express the shock and disbelief of reading this judgment.”
Judgement received. Bad news (for now) Stonewall law won this round.
Here is my statement in thread form.
I struggle to express the shock and disbelief I feel at reading this judgmenthttps://t.co/g149gB7rJz
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) December 18, 2019
The judgment was largely ignored by Americans journalists and progressives, mainly because few progressives disagree with the transgender ideology or pro-transgender groups, such as the Human Rights Council.
The HRC responded to Rowling’s Tweet by restating their claim that each person’s biological sex can be changed by a claim to be transgender:
Trans women are women.
Trans men are men.
Non-binary people are non-binary.CC: JK Rowling.
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) December 19, 2019
The transgender ideology says the government should force Americans to accept the notion each person’s claim of their “gender” trumps the reality of biological sex. This media silence has encouraged transgender activists to declare the existence of a “female penis,” and it allows companies to command their women employees to share their sexual identity with men who want to be identified with female pronouns, such as “her” or “she.”
Many U.K. activists and experts tweeted in defense of Rowling’s decision to support women’s right to recognize men are not women, even when they wear dresses.
Today a UK judge ruled that the belief that biological sex is immutable is incompatible with fundamental human rights and not worthy of legal protection. In other words, you can be sacked for stating it. I'm a professor of philosophy. I believe it. I stand with @MForstater https://t.co/zHqN5Z59nE
— Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) December 18, 2019
Any political movement that asks people to deny the truth of their own eyes and relies on powerful institutions to enforce its ideology through grossly disproportionate punishment is not a movement that will ever be truly accepted. It’s going to fall apart one day #IStandWithMaya
— Louise Perry (@Louise_m_perry) December 19, 2019
Several 'Women's Officer' jobs in poitical parties have now been taken by Self ID "women"…depriving actual women of the job. Likewise women's sports.
Lesbians are being harassed into having sex with men who say they are women and lesbians
This is nothing like the Gay struggles.— AnneForEurope (@YonWumman) December 19, 2019
That judgement… It basically says that there is scientific evidence suggesting more than two sexes (there isn't), and that even if there *are* two sexes, it's wrong to say so.
It's like reading a document that was written in the middle ages.
— Bill Baggins (@BillBaggins96) December 18, 2019
In the United States, left-wing feminist activists, and conservatives jumped to support Forstator:
How many more women should lose their jobs because those with the power to speak clearly and openly refuse to stick their necks out? You have tenure, I don’t. We need you to help move these discussions and ppls understanding forward safely, sanely, kindly. Please help that happen
— Brie Jontry (@BJontry) December 19, 2019
Free-speech activists noted the many pro-transgender activists who lashed out at Rowling:
This isn't about "the biological essentialism of gender" (?). It is — as the language of the ruling itself indicates — about whether claims about biological SEX are protected beliefs under the UK's employment rules. But gotta be on the right side. pic.twitter.com/73VmYGPRCL
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) December 19, 2019
Human Rights Campaign has lost it's marbles
Human Rights Campaign doesn't understand science
Human Rights campaign is a farceCC: The sane world
— Jonathan Schafer (@jschaf01) December 19, 2019
The transgender backlash claimed Rowling backed ‘TERFs”- which a Twitter-approved slur for people who say a person cannot change their sex:
J.K. Rowling is a TERF. Good thing we aren't missing much as her world building and new movies are total shit anyway. She cast an abuser and stood by it. She put a bunch of racist shit in her books and movies too. Don't support her by buying her crap. https://t.co/1HWSAJ5k8Q
— Sick but Slightly Jolly Ho (@Sick1With4Smile) December 19, 2019
The time has come to unfollow J.K. Rowling. From childhood hero to gay baiting sellout and now to TERF/transphobic defense squad.
Bye Jo… thanks for the memories. pic.twitter.com/QY91FWAfoD
— DanDoesn't Care 😈 (@Druiddan3) December 19, 2019
Just found out J.K. Rowling is a TERF. Finally, we can stop talking about Harry Potter forever
— Appletun appreciation club 🍎 (@Shitty_cake) December 19, 2019
Breitbart News has extensively covered the transgender ideology, amid silence from journalists at establishment sites.
Transgender & progressive advocates are waging a war on pronouns so that men can grab women's identities. https://t.co/AGSkM3ReXu
— Neil Munro (@NeilMunroDC) December 10, 2019
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