To The Trans Community: I'm Sorry
Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows us what we want... whatever we want..."
"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly.
"It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts."
-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
I've been trying to figure out how to write this for the past few days. There have been two topics that I wanted to talk about, one being the J.K. Rowling Controversy as well as the recent police brutality in America. Honestly, I think the reason that I didn't write anything is because I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say. I was emotionally exhausted and eventually the emotional exhaustion turned into physical exhaustion. It's hard to know what to say in these kinds of situations. I've made it pretty clear about what I believe on social media and conversations that I have had with people. Yet, I think it's important to post it here as well. I believe that Black Lives Matter and the justice system is corrupt and needs serious changes. The amount of Black lives that have been taken is awful. I stand with the protesters even if I cannot be there with them physically. Their courage and strength is inspiring.
In the midst of everything J.K. Rowling thought it was wise to post transphobic tweets. She particularly attacked transgender women and believes that trans women devalues sex and are a danger to real women. I won't posts all of her tweets but I will give the link to the blog posts she wrote addressing the controversy. (Rowling's Response). I'll be honest I didn't read the whole thing because I couldn't stomach it. There's two reasons that I won't focus completely on J.K. Rowling. One, I didn't read the whole post. Two, that wouldn't be fair. Originally I planned to make it about Rowling but I knew I couldn't do that. One of the things that is used constantly in Social Work is self reflection. It feels like it was a part of every paper I wrote and all the projects that I did. The reason that it was used so much is because social workers need to work with 'everyone'. Wherever I work I will not know who is going to walk through the door. Because of that we need to know our biases and prejudices so that they don't come out at the worst possible time.
I like to believe that I am an open minded person. I'm not perfect but I try hard to see other people's perspectives. I haven't always been that way. Frankly, I've posted things on this blog that I am embarrassed by. This blog has been around since we were sophomores in high school and naturally we have grown and our opinions have changed on some issues. I know I wrote embarrassing posts on the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the Transgender community even the LGBTQ+ community in general. At this point I don't know what I've deleted and kept on the blog. Regardless I need to apologize for what I've posted in the past even if it has been deleted. I disrespected my community and that isn't okay.
I've written about Harry Potter many times on this blog. A few months ago I wrote a personal post about what the Harry Potter series meant to me. I eventually took the post down because it didn't sound right to me and I figured that I would write it again some other time. I guess that time is now. I was late to the Harry Potter series and I started reading it in middle school and finishing it at the beginning of high school. Even though I was not a child when I started the series it felt magical. Whenever I opened a Harry Potter book it felt like I was at Hogwarts. The books were there for me like a best friend. They were there for the good, the bad and the ugly. I've bought so many copies of the book that it's become a collection. My paperbacks were so worn that I had to buy new copies of some of the books. Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, The Burrow and Hogsmeade felt like home. The books were a place where everyone was welcome and being different was celebrated. I was in the closet when I started and finished the book but maybe the book helped me in ways I didn't even realize at the time. Whenever life got hard I would pick up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and turn to chapter 36: The Flaw in the Plan. Voldemort has used the killing spell on Harry and everyone believes that he is gone. Little does the reader know that Harry is not gone but protected by the love of his family and Harry and other characters go on to save the Wizarding World. I was so grateful for the books and to J.K. Rowling for writing them. I envisioned myself reading them to my own children one day and even using them in my career somehow. Then I saw her tweets.
I rarely get on Twitter because I don't love it and I'm on social media enough as it is. The only reason I had one because I needed it for school. Then I started seeing people post about JK Rowling on Instagram and I went to look. There were multiple tweets from Rowling attacking transgender individuals, especially transgender women. She talked about how trans women are a danger to women and to the 'LGB' community. I saw that she even posted an anonymous letter from a 'scared lesbian.' I saw that tweet and I genuinely wanted to cry. As a queer woman I know it's like to be socially excluded and vilified simply for being different. Not many years ago were gay and queer people attacked more often on television, books, music and in the media. The trans community was as well but it was often ignored. Now it feels like people are becoming more accepting of sexual orientation but not sexual identity. Because LGB+ people are being attacked less it's often somewhat forgotten and we've gained some kind of privilege. Yes, we are still attacked and homophobia is very real. It kind of feels like we've forgotten what we came from and all the things that I get to enjoy now were fought for me by someone else. Whether it was the 80s with AIDS and fighting for better healthcare and equal rights to the 90s with 'Don't ask, Don't tell' and even when marriage equality became a reality in 2015. Maybe some people in the community feel the need not to fight anymore or that equality was won when marriage equality became a reality. We often forget that Pride is a reality in America and around the world because of a trans woman, Marsha P. Johnson. So many forget that the trans community is in our community, our family. In the past few years there have been bathroom laws, being attacked in the media and the rising of deaths of trans women (especially black trans women).
When I saw J.K. Rowling's tweets I immediately began to judge her. I was upset and furious that she could be so insensitive to a hurting and oppressed community. 2020 was already a hard enough year. The last thing anyone needed was white billionaire to tweet careless tweets about the trans community when people were already hurting. I've been thinking about it a lot and I soon realized that I needed to look within before I got angry with someone else. I haven't always been accepting of the trans community and when we started this blog I was struggling with my own sexuality/sexual orientation. One of my ways of dealing with that was attacking the LGBTQ+ community but also the trans/non-binary community. In some ways I was no different than Rowling. I based the entire trans community off of stereotypes and my own ideas and that was wrong. Instead of taking the time to learn and educate myself I focused more on feelings and my own privilege. I never took the opportunity to reach out to the 'other side'. For that, I am sorry and I'm still sorry. Even though I am out of the closet now and I'm still slowly but surely accepting myself I haven't done enough. I've spoken out against transphobia in my personal life or at least as much as I should. I like to view the LGBTQ+ as family and a family needs to look out for one another. I haven't protected my family enough. I promise to do better in the future and to keep educating myself. I am thrilled to have such a beautiful, intelligent, strong family. I see your resiliency all the time and I'm beyond proud. You are valid, you are seen and you are important. J.K. Rowling is one person who refuses to see her ignorance and refuses to learn and her tweets and beliefs do not undermine your value.
I don't know what J.K. Rowling is doing right now. I'm sure she's in the middle of publicity nightmare with her publishers etc. I hope she's taking the time to learn and talk to others but I doubt it. She's not really tweeting anymore other than retweeting pictures children are doing of her new children's book. Maybe it's a ploy to make some people forget or not see the transphobic tweets. I doubt people will forget though and they shouldn't forget. I guess that leaves one last question: will I keep reading the books? This is something that I'm still wrestling with. I wanted to read them to my niece and to my own children but buying her books benefits J.K. Rowling financially. Then I remembered something John Green said years ago, "Books belong to their readers." J.K. wrote Harry Potter but once it was published Harry, all the characters and Hogwarts was ours. When we read the books the characters were real to us and they still are. They inspired us to be better and to speak out against bigotry and hate. Most importantly they taught us that love is the strongest power and that it always wins. I am inspired by the fans who spoke out against Rowling and I liked to believe they gained some of that courage from the books. I know I did. When Hermione created S.P.E.W, whenever characters spoke out against 'pure bloods' and all the wise lessons we learned from Dumbledore. Those characters and stories were the ones that helped me when I needed it the most and I like to believe that they still can. I do understand both sides and I support those who don't want anything to do with the books or fandom anymore. This is a personal decision. I don't think it's the right choice for me. If I do choose to read them to my children I will tell them about JK Rowling and teach them that she didn't live by what she wrote. I will tell them that the stories are their own and that acceptance and love is essential in life. They will make their own decision about whether or not they want to read the books. The best thing that we can do is raise our children to be better and to love others because at the end of the day all anyone really wants is acceptance and to belong. To the trans community, you do.
DFTBA
-AB
Art Credit:Damianimated
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