Here’s A Letter You Won’t Read, Dear J. K. Rowling
By: Gb Rogut
Tags: Education, LGBTQ, Life, Culture, Diversity

Lots of members of the LGBTQ community and their allies pointed out how hurtful your comments were.

Then, you issued a response.

I read it with hope. I kept thinking you were going to prove us all wrong. That you would write a piece bursting with kindness. You were going to make us see what you were trying to accomplish with your comments. Maybe it was one of those cases when someone is trying to say a thing, but what comes out of their mouth is a whole different thing. Surely you had an explanation for all of this.

You did…sort of.

In your essay, you explain how you have met transgender people. You’ve read papers, journals, you name it.

However, it soon becomes clear that you have met some transgender people, as in, you have talked to them a few times. Also, you disclosed you suffered domestic violence.

I’m sorry. It mustn’t be easy to come forward with this information, especially now.

Then, you write about the old “queer people are confused people” trope. To cement your argument, you point out how “autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.”

After reading that passage, this was my face…

You were effectively implying that the high number of autistic folks in the LGBTQ community proves that they’re all just a disoriented bunch of people.

Some studies have indeed revealed that autistic people tend to identify themselves as members of the LGBTQ+ community in higher percentages when compared to the neurotypical population.

Some people speculate it might be because we, autistic people, have learned not to care as much about societal expectations and, therefore, are more willing to come out.

It could be.

For example, I can tell you that, once I embraced my autism, accepting my bisexuality came easily.

So, when I read your words, I was startled. Why would you use the autism-LGBTQ intersection to “prove” your point? Aren’t you aware of how hurtful this is for both communities?

One of the many aspects autistic and queer people share is a narrative around us being weird, unusual, or just plain crazy. All because we don’t experience the world the same way as everybody else, nor do we adjust to its standards.

However, your essay gets worse. You explain the reason the fight for transgender people’s rights worries you so much is…

When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman — and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones — then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.

What’s with this? Really? So, in your mind, the sole reason transgender women want their rights recognized is so they can get into bathrooms to hurt cis women? Do you think they risk their lives just by existing, so they can attack people while in the toilet?

Really?

You devote a large portion of your essay to explain this. It’s hard not to think that it profoundly worries you.

As you know, this essay generated even more reactions. Some wrote you letters. Others created videos trying to explain to you why this was so hurtful, especially because you’re doing it in the middle of Pride Month. There were people who took the time to carefully demonstrate the fault in your arguments.

Many chose to insult you, call you names, and even ask you just to disappear.

I am sorry about that.

Why do we care so much about what one person is saying? Because, even though you are an ordinary person, your hard-earned platform isn’t. Millions of people drink up your words. Also, despite living in a day and age in which the LGBTQ community rights have advanced a lot, there’s still a large percentage of the population who disagrees with transgender people being treated as humans.

Your words will be used as fodder by the anti-transgender rights movement.

Above all, many of us are disappointed. We looked up to you. You helped us understand the concept of diversity. Now we don’t know how to feel about you.

Curious fact. You tweeted, “I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans.”

Screenshot by the author

Well, there has recently been a severe attack on the LGBTQ community, effectively removing protections for trans people when it comes to health care.

True, this did not happen in your country, the UK. Maybe that’s why it’s so difficult for you to understand. But for someone who would march with the transgender community, you have been awfully quiet about this…

So what do we do now?

Strange as it sounds, I want to believe you will pause for a moment and reflect on the whole affair. Will you listen to the people telling you “please, stop, you’re hurting us”? Will you come to see the reason transgender people want to use the toilet is that they want to pee? You know, like everybody else?

I do not possess the gift of clairvoyance, so I have no idea what will happen next. I can only hope you’ll do some thinking and, even more importantly, you’ll take some action. After all, you showed us once there was magic in the world, and that we’re protected by our ability to love.

I have faith that you will see into the hearts of those you have hurt and try to reach out to them. Could it be that I still believe in magic? Could it be that I still hope you have it in you to change?

It might be that I do, even though you’ll never read this letter, and my words will never reach you.