JK Rowling labelled ‘a disgrace’ by trans YouTuber NikkieTutorials: ‘You have no idea how much hurt you’re causing’
NikkieTutorials (L) slammed JK Rowling for her comments on trans folk. (Samir Hussein/WireImage/Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs)
Beauty blogger NikkieTutorials launched a scathing critique of JK Rowling Sunday evening (July 5) after the author decided now was the time to compare healthcare for trans folk to a conversion therapy.
The YouTuber, real name Nikkie de Jager, dubbed Rowling a “disgrace” for her comments on trans people.
Her tweet resonated with many, capturing the sense of unease and frustration LGBT+ Harry Potter fans are increasingly experiencing, watching their childhood passions be muddied by Rowling’s anti-trans views.
“And to think I was such a fan of Harry Potter,” NikkieTutorials wrote in a since-deleted tweet to her 2.1 million followers. “You’re a disgrace, JK Rowling.
“You have no idea how much hurt you’re causing. Shame on you.”
What did JK Rowling say?
JK Rowling courted criticism after she liked a tweet that called “hormone prescriptions” the “new antidepressants”.
In response to a backlash, Rowling launched into an 11-tweet-long thread that commented on Britain’s threadbare healthcare system for trans people, one in which some patients have reported waiting for more than three years for appointments.
“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,” the author wrote.
Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function. 5/11
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 5, 2020
Rowling continued: “Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.”
In the UK, puberty blockers are prescribed to trans teens by specialist gender doctors at the only NHS gender clinic for under 18s, the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) based at the Tavistock and Portman Trust in London.
The age at which trans kids can be given puberty blockers was lowered from 16 to around 11 in 2011, after nearly a decade of consultation with international experts. They are only prescribed after at least a year of psychological evaluation, the NHS says, which itself comes on top of a minimum two-year wait for an initial appointment.
Rowling’s remarks, branded as “a threat to LGBT+ people” by Munroe Bergdorf, came only days after she was caught liking a hideously anti-LGBT+ tweet opposing a ban on gay conversion therapy for children in Canada.
Meanwhile in the UK, LGBT+ people are waiting for the government to announce a ban on conversion therapy which was promised two years ago.
