Daniel Radcliffe voices support for transgender community

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has spoken out in support of the transgender community after author J.K. Rowling's transphobic tweets about people who menstruate and how to define a woman offended and triggered many.

“While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, as someone who has been honoured to work with and continues to contribute to The Trevor Project for the last decade, and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment,” Radcliffe wrote in an open letter on The Trevor Project. “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

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The actor went on to reveal that according to The Trevor Project—the U.S. organization that provides round-the-clock crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to the youth LGBTQ+ community— 78 per cent of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. “It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm,” he continued.

Radcliffe admitted that he too is still learning how to be a better ally and invited fans to read the organization’s official Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth. The downloadable guide includes an explanation of the difference between sex and gender, tips to increase understanding, and how to avoid and address common mistakes. Some fans feel Rowling could have used the three pillars in the latter category following her own tweets on June 6: Listen, Be Accountable, and Commit to Do Better. Instead the author has gone silent and many fans have even renounced their favourite childhood books as a result.

i just donated $50 to make up for all the time i've wasted caring about JK Rowling. Match me if you can. https://t.co/621kTAAtgv

— sonia saraiya spreads like strawberries (@soniasaraiya) June 7, 2020

Radcliffe implored the franchise's many fans to try and separate the author's opinion from their relationship with the books and not let her words tarnish their experiences.“I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you," he said. "If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life—then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred.And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.”Radcliffe wasn’t the only former Harry Potter star to chime in following Rowling’s comments. After Twitter users starting pointing out the naming of Harry Potter's only Asian character Cho Chang was problematic, the Scottish actress who played her, Katie Leung, took to Twitter.“So, you want my thoughts on Cho Chang? Okay, here goes…” she wrote in a thread that then linked to several organizations, including ones that support the Black trans community.

#AsiansForBlackLives

— Katie Leung (@Kt_Leung) June 7, 2020

Rowling’s latest public musings aren’t the first to spark backlash among fans and followers. In December 2019, critics labelled her as a TERF (trans exclusive radical feminist) after she supported a controversial British researcher who was fired from a thinktank centre after stating that men cannot change into women.[video_embed id='1973280']BEFORE YOU GO: 'Schitt's Creek's Dustin Milligan and 'Riverdale's Jordan Connor on their first time doing drag[/video_embed]