JK Rowling speaks out about death threats over transgender comments
'Media Buzz' host Howard Kurtz discusses the controversy over the Harry Potter author's remarks about transgender people on 'The Story.'
The sentencing of a man who told police he identified as a woman when caught filming women in a U.K. public restroom caught the attention of J.K. Rowling over the weekend.
The Harry Potter series author posted about Kurtis Mawson being convicted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday, writing, "That thing only evil, nasty bigots claim happens, and that never, ever happens, has happened. Again."
The actions of Mawson prompted Rowling to publish a series of tweets addressing her broader concern at hand.
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JK Rowling (Getty Images)
In the first paragraph of a three-tweet thread, Rowling wrote, "It is possible to want trans people to be safe and happy while recognising that there are risks to women and girls in eradicating single sex spaces. Women and girls are being pressured to surrender their hard-won rights to a group that poses a proven danger to them."
"The statistics don't lie. Some - not all - trans-identified males have committed sexual and violent offences against women and girls. Some male predators have capitalised on gender identity activism to claim a trans identity they never espoused pre-conviction or assault," she continued.
She concluded the thread by saying, "Telling women and girls they must accept increased risk to themselves to appease male feelings is the very definition of the patriarchy you claim to stand against. Vulnerable women are paying the price for a fashionable fallacy that has serious, real world consequences."
The story Rowling linked to reported that Mawson was "spotted inside female toilets" in the city of Durham and was "inside a closed cubicle, standing on the toilet looking into the next cubicle" on May 5, 2022.
When police arrived on the scene asking if there was anybody inside, Mawson was reported to have answered in a high-pitched voice, "Yeah."
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JK Rowling speaks up on transgender people invading women's spaces. (Getty Images)
According to The Chronicle Live, the prosecutor stated that as officers on the scene continued asking why he was in a women’s restroom, Mawson replied, "Just chilling," before proceeding to claim that he identified as a woman.
Police officers seized his phone and a camera, finding footage of women in bathroom stalls.
When the Durham court found that Mawson's home had been previously searched, they initiated an additional investigation which seized several devices containing indecent images of children in "category A images - the most serious - as well as category B and C images" alongside an "extreme pornographic image of a person engaging in an act with a dog," The Chronicle Live reported.
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Mawson was also accused of sexually assaulting a tourist who was taking a photo of the Durham Cathedral in June.
Mawson confessed to failing to register as a sexual offender, and has pleaded guilty to sexual assault, "voyeurism, three counts of making indecent photographs of a child and possessing an extreme pornographic image," according to the report.
He was sentenced to 25 months.
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