Author J.K. Rowling has returned the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award she received last year after being labeled “transphobic.”
Rowling announced the news on her personal website Thursday. President of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group Kerry Kennedy claimed Rowling’s statement about sex being assigned at birth “diminished the identity of trans and non-binary people” earlier in August.
J.K. Rowling says she’s returning the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award given to her in December 2019 after the president of the organization, Kerry Kennedy, criticized Rowling’s transphobic views https://t.co/xk1h4twh75
— Vulture (@vulture) August 28, 2020
“Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, recently felt it necessary to publish a statement denouncing my views on RFKHR’s website,” Rowling said in the statement on her website. “The statement incorrectly implied that I was transphobic, and that I am responsible for harm to trans people.” (RELATED: J.K. Rowling Refuses To ‘Bow Down’ For Defending Biological Sex)
I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
“As a longstanding donor to LGBT charities and a supporter of trans people’s right to live free of persecution, I absolutely refute the accusation that I hate trans people or wish them ill, or that standing up for the rights of women is wrong, discriminatory, or incites harm or violence to the trans community,” Rowling’s statement continued.
Rowling first made a public statement regarding biological sex back in December of 2019. She lent support to a researcher who had been fired over a tweet that said “men cannot change into women.”
‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
Rowling would make headlines again in June of 2020 after she took issue with an op-ed that used the phrase “people who menstruate.”
Rowling claimed “erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”
The author has continued to support her stance on biological sex.