Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for Dec. 19
Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines for Dec. 19 are here. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment.
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is catching backlash from the LGBTQ community after tweeting a defense of a researcher who lost her job for tweeting that men cannot change their biological sex.
Rowling spoke out in defense of Maya Forstater, who was fired from her job at a thinktank after tweeting a rebuke of “smart people” who she claims to admire championing the concept of a person identifying with a gender that’s different from the one they were assigned at birth.
“Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security,” Rowling tweeted Thursday. “But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.”
Representatives for Rowling had no comment when reached by Fox News.
According to The Guardian, Forstater lost her job and was accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language in a tweet opposing a proposal to change the U.K.’s Gender Recognition Act.
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“What I am so surprised at is that smart people who I admire, who are absolutely pro-science in other areas, and champion human rights & womens rights are tying themselves in knots to avoid saying the truth that men cannot change into women (because that might hurt mens feelings),” she tweeted at the time.
A Central London employment tribunal convened a preliminary hearing over whether her tweets could be protected under the 2010 Equality Act, but a judge ultimately dismissed that bid.
“I conclude from … the totality of the evidence, that [Forstater] is absolutist in her view of sex and it is a core component of her belief that she will refer to a person by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. The approach is not worthy of respect in a democratic society,” read the ruling from Judge James Tayler.
Rowling has since caught immense backlash on social media for throwing her opinion into the fray. The Human Rights Campaign tweeted a rebuke shortly after her tweet writing: “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Non-binary people are non-binary. CC: JK Rowling.”
Meanwhile, countless other users were quick to call out the famed author for views they consider transphobic.
“Another day, another instance of JK Rowling doing something foolish and souring the public perception of her own series," one person tweeted.
"How condescendingly arrogant of a cis woman; to think it's for her to grant us permission to be ourselves," another user said. "We don't need your permission to be any part of ourselves."
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"JK Rowling gave the world an incredible gift with Harry Potter. That does not mean she is above criticism or justifiable anger. She has proven time and time again that she is not only transphobic, but unwilling to unlearn her prejudices. Hate to say it, but we do not stan," a third user noted.
GLAAD also tweeted on Thursday, writing: "@jk_rowling has aligned herself with an anti-science ideology that denies the basic humanity of people who are transgender. Trans and non-binary people are not a threat to women, and to imply otherwise puts trans people at risk. Now is the time for feminists who know and support trans people to speak up and support trans people's right to be treated equally and fairly."
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