JK Rowling once again proves her Wizarding World is not for everyone

By Anaum Hussain •

JK Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” book series, was instrumental in many people’s childhoods, including my own. I still have a Hermione Granger interactive wand from Universal Orlando Studios. Rowling’s Wizarding World seemed like it was for everyone who wanted a place in it.

A lot of people who have been labeled “different,” including those in the LGBTQ+ community, have identified with Harry Potter throughout the years. A boy who is never accepted is whisked away to a new world with people like him. It’s obvious why the story is so popular with people who feel like the boy in the cupboard under the stairs.

But Rowling has made one thing abundantly clear throughout the years: her world is not as accepting as we once thought.

On April 1, Rowling criticized Scotland’s Scottish Hate Crime Act on X, formerly known as Twitter. The act criminalizes hate against people based on their race, religion, disability, sexuality or gender identity. In response to the act, Rowling posted a thread calling out several transgender women and referring to them as men.

This is not new behavior for Rowling. On March 13, Rowling denied on X, that Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute For Sexual Research was burned by the Nazis for housing research on transgender people, calling it a “fever dream” when another user compared her to the Nazis due to her transphobic ideologies about gender.

It’s clear that Rowling’s sinking deeper into dangerous ideologies.

I once considered myself a proud Potterhead, or a Harry Potter fan. I would read fanfiction, purchase merchandise, and my old online username even had “Ravenclaw” in it.

I will always appreciate Harry Potter for bringing magic into my childhood, for bringing me joy and adventures. I am not exaggerating when I say that if it hadn’t been for Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, I would not be the person I am today.

But now, with how Rowling has been acting, I’ve stopped all interaction with Harry Potter. I’ve changed my usernames. I don’t interact with the fandom. I don’t buy merchandise. I can no longer enjoy the magic of the Wizarding World without thinking of how any money and attention I give to Harry Potter, which was such an important part of my life, shows Rowling that I agree with her views.

On March 12, Rowling spoke on an episode of “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling” podcast.

“A ton of Potter fans are still with me, and in fact a ton of Potter fans are grateful that I’d said what I said,” Rowling said on the podcast.

I cannot be that fan. I cannot allow my adoration of her work to blind me. If she had stayed silent, she could have died as one of the most beloved authors of our generation. But now, all she can do is keep doubling down and sliding further into dangerous rhetoric.

And all I can do is watch as someone I once looked up to has betrayed everything we all thought her books stood for.

Anaum Hussain, freshman communication major and practicum student, is a contributing writer for The Current.