Published 11:56 IST, July 6th 2020
JK Rowling's 'infuriating' words slammd by Emmy Rossum; trans model Munroe Bergdorf joins
'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling has enraged netizens by calling hormone therapy and surgery- 'a new kind of conversion therapy' through her tweets on Sunday.
32-year-old American actor Emmy Rossum, who featured as the lead in the acclaimed US show Shameless, took to Twitter to express disgust over JK Rowling's latest statement about hormone prescriptions which are being given as anti-depressants. Rowling, through a series of posts, claimed that taking these hormone pills has become 'a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people'. Along with the entire LGBTQ community on social media, Rossum, who enjoys a huge fan following on the microblogging site, was also left stunned by the celebrated author's seemingly anti-transgender views.
'Harry Potter' author J K Rowling has found herself at the receiving end of netizens' ire on social media once again for her insensitive comments about the transgender community. The 54-year-old wrote a series of tweets in her defense when a user criticized her for "liking" a tweet that claimed people on "mental health medication" are "lazy". In one of her tweets, Rowling said, “many health professionals are concerned that young people struggling with their mental health are being shunted towards hormones and surgery when this may not be in their best interests.”
"When you lie about what I believe about mental health medication and when you misrepresent the views of a trans woman for whom I feel nothing but admiration and solidarity, you cross a line," she continued. Rowling then reiterated her support of trans-women while also explaining again that she has taken medication for her mental health. Throughout her thread, Rowling cites a handful of articles and studies to claim that using hormones for gender transition can lead to serious side-effects, which she believes many trans-activists ignore.
Rowling also explained that she believes hormone therapy is “a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people,” reiterating her stance that hormones can cause problems with “fertility and/or full sexual function”. After substantiating her point, she concluded by saying, "None of that may trouble you or disturb your belief in your own righteousness. But if so, I can't pretend I care much about your bad opinion of me".
English trans-activist and model, Munroe Bergdorf, responded to Rowling's tweets by calling her 'dangerous' and a 'threat to the LGBT' community. She slammed the author for being insensitive towards the trans people by invalidating their choice of identity and also apologized to people for Rowling's statements.
Updated 11:56 IST, July 6th 2020