In the approaching years, HBO needs its new Harry Potter series to turn into “the streaming event of the decade” because it adapts every of the franchise’s seven unique books. The present may very nicely turn into a success that captures the imaginations of a brand new era of followers who weren’t there for the primary wave of Pottermania that intensified with the releases of every e-book and Warner Bros.’ subsequent movie variations. And if this Harry Potter is a hit, it may give writer J.Okay. Rowling a motive to contemplate writing extra tales set within the magical world that turned her right into a billionaire.
But all of that hinges on whether or not individuals will truly watch HBO’s Harry Potter, which is being government produced by Rowling. In some instances, a franchise’s creator being so intently concerned with new variations of their work is usually a good factor, however Rowling’s involvement on this present casts a shadow over it that HBO can do little or no to counteract. Rowling has made it abundantly clear that she thinks attacking transgender individuals through the authorized system is a worthwhile trigger and an excellent use of her huge private fortune. And as a lot as Harry Potter followers is likely to be excited to see what HBO has cooked up, there’s no method to watch this present with out supporting Rowling’s bigotry and the structural violence she’s inflicting on a weak minority.
For years, Rowling has trafficked in backyard selection transphobia below the guise of being a champion for cisgender ladies’s rights. Last Thursday in a submit praising the International Olympic Committee for banning transgender ladies from competing, Rowling implicitly misgendered 2024 boxing gold medalist Imane Khelif. The submit was the most recent occasion of Rowling utilizing transphobic canine whistles to assault Khelif, which is what led the athlete to file a felony criticism in opposition to Rowling final summer time.
Many individuals had beforehand gleaned from Rowling’s on-line interactions with trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) that she may maintain transphobic views. But it wasn’t till 2019 that she got here out as a TERF herself whereas weighing in on a precedent-setting UK authorized battle. On Twitter, Rowling voiced her help for Maya Forstater, a British tax marketing consultant whose contract with the Centre for Global Development was not renewed in response to issues about her tweeting and retweeting a number of posts misgendering and denying the existence of trans individuals. Forstater — a self-identified “gender-critical activist” — filed a lawsuit in opposition to the CGD and its president Masood Ahmed alleging that her non-renewal was a violation of Britain’s 2010 Equality Act.
While the Equality Act barred discrimination primarily based on “gender reassignment,” Forstater claimed that she was being unfairly persecuted for her private beliefs. One choose tossed the case out, ruling that Forstater’s views have been “incompatible with human dignity and fundamental rights of others.” But Forstater was in a position to enchantment, and in 2021, the Employment Appeal Tribunal determined in her favor.
Rowling’s tweet was not what led to Forstater finally receiving £106,400 ($141,683) in misplaced earnings and aggravated damages in 2023. But Rowling’s willingness to brazenly align herself with TERF agitators was important as a result of she was lending credence to the bigger tradition of transphobia that has plagued the UK for many years. By supporting Forstater, Rowling was encouraging the general public to embrace their hateful beliefs and to suppose of transgender individuals as threats to society. That form of rhetoric has been linked to spikes in hate crimes directed at queer individuals. Rowling is aware of full nicely that her superstar helps her amplify transphobic ideology in ways in which individuals like Forstater couldn’t on their very own. Rowling additionally understands that her wealth places her in a major place to advance the TERF agenda (learn: imposing gender essentialism and erasing trans individuals from existence) on a societal degree.
That’s precisely what Rowling was doing in 2024 when she donated £70,000 ($93,212) to For Women Scotland (FWS), an advocacy group that challenged Scotland’s 2018 Gender Representation on Public Boards Act 2018. The Act’s definition of ladies included individuals who had “the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.” FWS gained its preliminary judicial evaluate in 2022, which deemed that defining ladies was outdoors of the Scottish Parliament’s purview. That resolution was reversed in 2023, and in 2024, an amended model of the Scottish Gender Representation Act that used the British 2010 Equality Act’s definition of ladies — which included trans ladies — was signed into regulation. That similar yr, FWS filed and misplaced one other judicial evaluate in opposition to the amended Scottish Gender Representation Act difficult its use of the British 2010 Equality Act’s definition. And whereas FWS couldn’t enchantment that call, the case went all the way in which to the UK Supreme Court, which dominated that the authorized definition of a lady is primarily based on organic intercourse assigned at start. To pay for this intensive authorized battle, FWS turned to crowdsourcing, and Rowling was all too joyful to dump tens of 1000’s of {dollars} into their trigger.
This UK Supreme Court’s definition is itself problematic as a result of human intercourse biology is not a binary. And along with stopping transgender individuals from having their gender identification legally acknowledged, the ruling makes it a lot more durable for them to pursue authorized motion for gender-based discrimination. Rowling celebrated the Court’s resolution by posting a photograph of herself with a really clear message: “I love it when a plan comes together.” The plan on this case was to assist bankroll an anti-trans group’s marketing campaign in opposition to trans individuals, and it culminated with the passage of a regulation that reduces all ladies dwelling within the UK all the way down to the way in which their our bodies are perceived when they’re born.
Rowling has been clear about her want to maintain aiding individuals of their efforts to rob transgender individuals of their dignity and human rights. That appears very a lot to be all the level of The J.Okay. Rowling Women’s Fund — a company Rowling launched in 2025 that claims to be “fighting to retain women’s and girls’ sex-based rights in all aspects of life.” The Fund gives monetary help supplied by Rowling to cisgender ladies who wish to file lawsuits. The Fund’s web site makes no point out of gender as an idea, however it explicitly factors to the For Women Scotland case as the type of “victory” that it needs to see extra of on the planet.
Rowling has been wealthy sufficient to pour money into organizations like this for a while now as a result of she continues to carry major mental property rights to all the Harry Potter franchise. Every Harry Potter e-book, film, online game, stage present ticket, theme park move, and piece of merchandise that’s offered places cash into Rowling’s pocket, which she will use to maintain her campaign in opposition to trans individuals going. Given the property’s lasting reputation, Rowling, who is at the moment value about $1.2 billion, may in all probability do all of this even when HBO wasn’t producing a brand new Harry Potter series. But as a result of the community is and it needs to maintain the present going for a minimum of a decade, Rowling can have much more capital at her disposal to impose her retrograde views onto others.
Clearly, this doesn’t concern HBO’s government management whose major targets are to spice up the corporate’s inventory worth whereas taking house outsized paychecks and hefty exit packages of their very own. But it is completely one thing that HBO’s subscribers must be desirous about as Warner Bros. cranks the Harry Potter hype machine up forward of the present’s premiere later this yr. HBO doesn’t need you to consider the way it is platforming a recognized bigot and making it simpler for her to unfold patently hateful, dangerous messaging that may endanger individuals. And Rowling would in all probability slightly individuals not think about the truth that there are lots of different magical academia series to turn into obsessive about.