#never forget that there's more to it than just jkr being transphobic

[thefirstknife]

Quick word of advice--if anybody is gonna let Destiny streamers whi engage with the HP game know that's why you're unsubbing or want to tell them it's bad, DO NOT focus on "it funds a transphobe". Because yes that's true, but a huge reason the game is not worth touching is the blatant antisemitism and people keep hijacking that conversation to make it about the transohobic IP owner instead which is not good. She's a bigot on multiple levels, and it's important to give primary focus to each issue where relevant instead of brushing the rest aside in favor of only talking about one problem. Maybe bring the other stuff up tangentially, but don't use it as your primary focus.

True and incredibly important. JKR is definitely most known for transphobia currently, but let's not forget everything else, especially antisemitism and one of the most fucked up "excuses for slavery" plots. Bringing up other stuff when letting someone know why you don't want to engage with them over the HP game and JKR is super important. The whole setting and the creator are for the trash. I genuinely don't trust anyone, including any Destiny content creator, who wants to play this and give it publicity.

For context, in reference to this post.

[alagaisia]

Hey if you’re still enjoying and engaging with Harry Potter in any capacity you can unfollow me 😊 please and thank you

Like. I get it. I was super into it as a kid too. I did not have the social context to pick up on the antisemitism or transphobia or sexism or fatphobia or bioessentialism or racism or anything else. I also picked up on surface-level language of Fighting Back Against Evil and ascribed my own values onto what that meant and thought we were all on the same page. I remember when the original kids who grew up with the books started becoming adult fans and picking up on the (blatant!) antisemitism and everybody was still mostly willing to give JKR the benefit of the doubt on it. (“She was writing kids books!” They said. “She didn’t know she was penning a global phenomenon! She picked a common literary trend in European fairy tales (antisemitic caricature) and didn’t examine it closely. It’s a mistake anyone could make,” we said. “She would probably do things differently now. After all, she word-of-god confirmed the vaguest hints she dropped that Dumbledore might be gay,” we said.) There was actually a span of several years where biases inherent in the actual real content of the Harry Potter series were coming to light and even the people pointing them out still seemed mostly to think it was an unfortunate accident.

That time has passed. Years ago! We are long past the first months of “maybe she doesn’t realize this seemingly-feminist tweet she liked was made by a noted TERF” and then “how could she not realize that these many veiled TERF-y things she’s retweeted have implications for the many queer fans of her work” and finally “oh wow okay JKR just dropped an entire transphobic manifesto on twitter. I guess the transphobia was the point.”

Yeah, there were a few months after that where people were still processing and still working through how they felt about Harry Potter and all of its flaws with the context of the now open transphobia of the creator. I was there for that. Remember how I was one of the kids who built it up into something noble and worthwhile based on my own beliefs about what messages it was probably trying to convey? Turns out it wasn’t trying to say any of those things, and when you take the time to examine all of the terrible shit that made its way into the text whether JKR intended it to be there or not, the whole series falls apart. It’s weird to discover that there’s a room in your house that’s rotten to the core, but eventually you figure out you can’t live like that, still going in there and holding your nose and pretending it’s still the same room you thought it was when the termites were only inside of the walls and hadn’t yet started chewing their way through the furniture. Because what’s going to happen is that they are going to infest the rest of your house. If you decide you can ignore transphobia and antisemitism and everything else just because you liked the color of the wallpaper, the rest of your principles are going to crumble too. You get rid of that fucking room. You put those books on a high shelf in the back of your closet behind other outgrown clothes and interests and you move the fuck on.

JKR uses the money made from her transphobic antisemitic children’s books to actively funding hate groups and to lobby for legislation that will and has actually affected the actual lives of trans people in an entire country. We are past the point of grieving something you were wrong about in childhood. Kids are wrong about a lot of stuff. You grow up and you learn new information and you change your behaviors based on it. You have to choose. It is transphobic to pretend there is not transphobia where there is. It is transphobic to support the work of someone who is using those funds to take rights from trans people with every fucking dollar. It is hateful to continue to engage positively with a story that at its very core is rooted in hate and bigotry and prejudice. You can choose to do all of those things but you cannot claim ignorance of them and you cannot choose those things and still pretend that choosing them upholds the values we convinced ourselves that Harry Potter stood for over a decade ago as uninformed children. You cannot choose to do those things and pretend to still support your trans and queer and Jewish neighbors. I do not want you in my neighborhood. Leave.

[shipsgaysfordays]

Uncertainty Meeting

So, this is chapter 2 of my fic but in Sirius’ POV, honestly I hadn’t remembered some of the batshit crazy things I had written until I was copying them into this chapter and like damn it’s insane

Does include the uncertainty prompt from @wolfstarmicrofic

CW: graphic depiction of violence

Links to other chapters here

Reminder that Remus’ pronouns for this fic are they/them, Sirius’ are ze/zis/zer/zhe/zeir/zey

Also fuck JKR and the rhetoric that she spouts that’s transphobic, homophobic, racist, antisemetic, and if I’m forgetting anything else then I’m deeply sorry

“We need to meet. I need to tell you something, the time is finally right. Meet at our old hang out spot , the one you always hated, I’m sorry but it’s the only one I could trust going to. I’ll wait as long as you need.”

Sirius left the note on the sidewalk, hoping that somehow Remus would find it, they always seem to be on the lookout so they probably would…right? 

Happy that soon zey would finally see zis love again, but still terrified for what would come next, zey trekked back to where it all started. Trains, buses, hikes, all the way to that grungy shack that felt more like home to Sirius than Grimmauld ever did. 

Despite how much simpler things would be to meet up at Mary’s apartment, there was still a fear about how Remus would feel finding out about all of this in Mary’s home, especially with them finding out about Mary and Sirius communicating. They already had trust issues, this would probably destroy any trust left if it isn’t handled correctly. 

And so Sirius waited, going through the plan over and over again with James and Lily. Redoing the silencing spell every once in a while just in case.

“I go down there first and speak with Moony, then once they seem to have calmed down some–you guys come down. Don’t, and I repeat: do NOT come down these stairs unless the man seems at least partially calm. This is an insane situation and I’d rather not terrify Moony.” 

“Yes, yes, we heard you the first 10 times,” James nodded. 

“Where did that impulsive little annoying loud kid go?” Lily questioned. 

“You married him,” Sirius quipped. 

“I think my wife is referring to you, Sirius.”

Zer eyes glazed over for a moment, thinking about where they did go, cold metal bars, shrieking from all around the tower, never being quite aware when zey were the one yelling. This is about Remus, they remembered. 

“I-I just want to do it right for Remus…”

“Yes, we know, give the man some space and some time to come to terms with the truth before bombarding them with it,” James said, the plan was somehow so simple to him by this point. 

They spent some time laying around and waiting. 

“We should have brought cards.”

“Are we even sure they’re coming?”

“Maybe we could finally talk about the other situation–” James started.

All thoughts and conversation was stopped by the sound of the door creaking and stomping shoes on the wood floorboards. The couple turned to face Sirius. 

“Well…I’ve got to….”

“Good luck Sirius,” Lily patted zem on the shoulder. 

James’ arms wrapped tightly around Sirius, “We’ll finally have our Moony back.”

Sirius shook, stepping down, trying not to go too fast or too slow, trying not to fall down the steps. Until making it to the bottom floor. Remus was examining the wood, their back turned on the other side of the room, staring at the spot where years ago Padfoot had watched them transform for the first time. 

“Remus…” Sirius started to say. 

They spun around to face Sirius, swiftly pulling out a knife and pointing it at the other man. 

What. The. Fuck. Unsure of what else to do, Sirius shot zeir hands empty hands into the air, hoping that might make a difference in whatever might happen next. 

“I don’t mean to cause trouble,” ze spat out, trying to sound calm as the love of zeir life is threatening to kill them with a knife because of the deaths of two people who are entirely alive and upstairs. 

“Of course you don’t, you never do, you lying bastard,”as Remus spoke memories of past mistakes filled zer mind, of the prank, of thinking Remus was the spy, of all the thoughts zis head tried to believe and tried to swat away like an annoying fly while in Azkaban, all the you killed them, it’s your fault you’re hear, it’s your fault Remus is alone, all of it swirled like the worst brewed potion made by an idiot or possibly evil first year at Hogwarts. 

Sirius’ eyes were the size of two moons, not a great comparison since that’s also something that brings Remus blinding hot rage. They were closer than the minute before, as Sirius’ mind came back to right here and now, they were moving forward. 

“I just…I-I need to tell you something, but I don’t know how.”

“What, you’re gonna tell me you love me, beg for me to come back to you like we’re 16 again, like things are that simple again,” Remus backed zem into the wall, holding the knife to their neck, why is this hot, why the hell is this hot, this should not be making me blush, this man is ABOUT TO TRY TO MURDER ME…I’m such a dog, but then it started to hit zem, is Remus really going to....

 “James and Lily are dead, and you’re barely even you anymore. Padfoot is gone and dead, Lord Black just needs to join them.” As Remus spoke tears began to appear in Sirius’ eyes, this is what they really think of me? Ze questioned, but no, Mary’s told Sirius well enough that Remus isn’t okay, this isn’t the man who loves me…right? They wouldn’t call me…they wouldn’t call me Lord Black, not as anything other than a stupid joke.

Are they really about to–Sirius stared, the blade next to zis neck…is this it? I should have had my wand, I should have explained better, I should–

Sirius glanced up for a moment, and then stared, right behind Remus there he was: James Potter in all his savior complex glory, pointing his shaking wand out. Lily next to him, trembling. Sirius’ eyes met James as zey felt liquid begin to sprinkle down zeir neck, like small rain before a storm. Despite the fear, still meeting James’ eye, zey almost screamed, “no–”

“Yes,” Remus said in response, moving even closer than before. 

At the same time, James spoke, “Accio knife.”

Small droplets of blood began to trickle down his neck, Remus’ fingers brushing it. Sirius’ heart raced, Remus’ eyes never leaving zem. Staring for an eternity. 

“I–I don’t know what to do…don’t leave,” Remus begged as they started holding onto Sirius, Sirius didn’t know what to do other than hug them back. How did it get to this? How did we get here? Zhe thought as ze stared at James, trying to hold back zeir tears.

“Please, let me explain.”

It took a while for them to respond, until finally there was a quiet, “okay.”

I didn’t think this far…why couldn’t Mary be here? She could say it so much better. 

Sirius took a breath before saying, “I was falsely imprisoned, for a crime I didn’t commit.”

“Why should I believe you?” Because it’s me, because it’s me and you, the stars and moon, Sirius and Remus, the galaxy. Because I love you…and somewhere you have to love me again too, please.

But Sirius knew zey shouldn’t and couldn’t plead to Remus’ emotions, not now, not after, “Just, let me continue…I didn’t commit the crime, no one did.”

“You expect me to believe the Potter’s killed themselves and their child.”

Sirius was about to respond, ze really was, zeir mouth opened and ready to say they didn’t really die, but they saw a few feet away, Lily. No no no, no Lily, they’re NOT READY!

“No, because we never died,” Lily’s voice rang, Merlin Lily……WHY, I guess I couldn’t have said it better.

Remus broke apart from Sirius and turned to stare at the Potters, until their eyes darted back to Sirius, “What are you doing to my brain?” It’s too soon for them, it’s too much. 

“What do you mean, Moony?” Lily spoke softly.

“None of this is real, IT CAN’T BE REAL, I–” they breathed heavily, “this isn’t real, I’m alone surrounded by ghosts by thoughts by everything fucked up in MY MIND.” Remus’ hands ran manically through their hair. Sirius wanted to reach out, to ground them, to help them realize this was real, but then there was the part of zem that was still in shock. The part of them that had blood running down their neck. The part of zem that was honestly terrified of the person next to zem. 

 “Moony, we’re back, please,” James touched their arm. Immediately Remus backed away, quickly into the corner of the room. 

 “No…no, no no no,” Remus shook their head, “no, it can’t be real. I’m alone. I’m alone , I’m sorry I couldn’t fix this before and make things right but you don’t need to….my mind doesn’t need to lie to me.” They fell to the floor, their eyes wide as they trembled. 

“Remus, look at me,” Lily spoke softly, starting to crouch next to them. “Look at me,” she spoke sternly this time.

James moved next to Sirius, both the men hoping that if they couldn’t help Remus then Lily would be able to. Sirius struggled trying to rip a piece of cloth from zis shirt, ze couldn’t focus on it, couldn’t bring zis eyes away from Remus. 

“Look at me,” James whispered, “Just look at me, I know it’s hard, I know it's scary and you want to stare at Moony because you always do, but just look at me for a second.”

Sirius nodded as James helped rip the clothes and apply pressure to the wound. “Hey, we’ve done this before, we’re okay, everything will be alright,” James spoke again. 

Sirius heard Lily speaking to Remus from across the room, “I need you to take a deep breath for me, I know it’s a lot, but it’s real.” 

“Lily I–” James turned to face his wife, so of course Sirius let zer eyes wander back to Remus, breathing like a madman, pulling away from their best mate in a far less friendly game of tug of war, Lily had always had a strong grip so the “game” went on for eternity. 

“GET AWAY FROM ME,” Remus screamed, breaking their hands free and pushing Lily away. 

Moony looked back to Sirius, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry,” they wailed as they ran out the door, into the night.

Can I forgive them? That was the only thought in zeir head as ze stared at the door, holding a bloodstained cloth, an uncertainty with how the hell to move forward.

[taegularities]

hello, i was wondering why you chose to make namjoon a ravenclaw in your fic? just because he's smart, right? because he himself has said he's a gryffindor, and it's such a peeve of mine, when people act like they know him better than he knows himself and don't listen to him. it's like reading a fic where someone writes him saying he hates plants, art, and biking. is it because you're not a real fan and never bothered looking into what he's said? or do you think you know better than him?

delete your garbage, transphobe. trans people's feelings are more important than your badly written smut. unless you just hate trans people and want them to feel bad? or are you that selfish? where you don't care who you hurt, as long as you get attention?

gotta say, i laughed a little. and yes, i got your other 3 asks about me being a transphobe and my writing being bad as well. and oh not to forget, your kind request to "k*ll yourself, transphobe"

please find me the passage where i say i know him better than he does lmao

i don't give a fuck about jkr, i see the series and her as an author separately. i still love the universe but have no such feeling left for her

this is fucking FANFICTION. none of it is real. e.g. taehyung being a raging dom who likes to spank and degrade reader? not real (or not as far as i know).

if i want to make namjoon a ravenclaw, i fucking will.

just because i wrote a hp fic, it doesn't mean i'm a transphobe, and i for sure WON'T delete my 'steaming pile of shit' fic OR the upcoming ones i have planned. you don't like them? then get the fuck off my blog, you worthless asshole

also saw the ask about you saying you'll attack my moots? lmao are you in kindergarten? sorry, but they're strong enough to endure your dumbass complaints

writing is something i'm confident about. so if you want to convince me my smut is badly written? uh-uh. not perfect, no. but actually bad? lmao ok, if you say so.

i'll delete any other ask you sent and any you WILL send. carry your useless ass away from here and annoy someone else. you won't get to me lol good day to you

[emsye-tries]

Cancel Culture is perceived as something wrong by a lot of people, but in reality it raises awareness of what should be accepted in our society. Or in particular, it shows what should NOT be accepted in the society we live in nowadays. I’m not saying that we should all participate in some Two Minute Hate bullcrap (for the George Orwell readers among us) but that we HAVE to raise awareness. We HAVE to show the next generation (and our own, and the one before us) what is to be accepted and what should be Cancelled.

People are removing J.K. Rowling’s name from her books and doing other stuff too. GOOD FOR THEM! Jkr was being transphobic online and definitely deserves what she got. This does NOT mean that she must be removed from our memories, or the books. No, she has to be remembered, maybe even more than before. We HAVE to learn, HAVE to know what is right and what is not. For all the social media users around the world; please don’t speak about bs you don’t know shit about and please, for the love of god, don’t do it online. It’s not quirky, it’s not a political pov. These are facts; trans people are human beings and deserve to be treated like human beings.

Twenty One Pilots stans are throwing away their merchandise and don’t support them anymore. GOOD. FOR. THEM!!! Please, just do what you feel like. If someone says something offensive, you have the right to form an opinion. Be careful with what you do with it, though (as I said before). Tyler Joseph (the lead singer of the band) never showed any support to Black people, even though he wouldn’t lose anything from it and is protected by being a cishet white male. When fans called him out and asked him to use his platforms, he made jokes and went guilt tripping. He needs to be remembered also. Do not forget the mistakes these people have made. Learn from them.

These are not all the examples but just two of the most recent ones. Feel free to add. And feel free to feel about their actions however you want, I am not justifying any behavior here, I am just stating some facts. ‘But they’re just showing their opinion’ no. Peoples lives isn’t something to be subjective about. Human lives matter. Lgbt lives matter. Black lives matter. There shouldn’t be an opinion at this. These are facts. Whether they deserve to be Cancelled by our Cancel Culture that we’ve created, I don’t know. But I do know that it is a Good Thing for our communities. PLEASE, homophobes, biphobes, transphobes, racists, Karens and other mean people, learn from their mistake and see the issues that we see. Make our world a better place.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not saying I’m agreeing with anything the fans are doing. I’m saying that IF this is going to happen, we should LEARN from it.

[pollyjean]

this is long overdue but i wanted to address a post i made a few months ago and have since deleted but never properly apologized for — i’ve received multiple DM’s about it, and realized it was stupid of me to sweep it under the rug and expect people to simply forget or move on from it when the things i said were genuinely hurtful and i needed to officially denounce them.

the post was about the jkr situation and my concerns about 1) people, mostly white people, who were silent when it came to the racism in jk rowling’s books and only spoke up irt her transphobia, and 2) people treating biological sex as entirely socially constructed when it has both a biological basis and very real effects on people’s lived experiences and at its core i stand by that still — white people should be acknowledging and calling out bigotry even if it doesn’t apply to them (us) personally, and there is no reason acknowledging sex-based oppression and also acknowledging transphobia and transmisogyny cannot coexist. but many of the things i said and the way i phrased things were undeniably shitty + transphobic, and i won’t try to justify them. specifically what i said about the justification of women not wanting someone who appears male in intimate spaces such as bathrooms etc. i 100% believe in the right for ppl to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender and trans women are just as vulnerable to violence from men in intimate spaces as cis women. the hypocrisy of me making this post is also something i am realizing now — as a gender non conforming person and someone who formerly identified as butch and frequently was read as male in social spaces, i have had people stare at me in public bathrooms. i’m sure many of them thought i did not belong there. for me to ignore the fact that the experiences of trans women in public bathrooms are not so different from mine in favor of rhetoric that bordered on bioessentialism is something i regret.

i don’t have screenshots of the original post on hand but i want people to know that my blog is trans-inclusive (and always has been) and that after trying to understand trans people’s perspectives more rather than being staunchly grounded in my own experience alone, the views i expressed in the post in regards to the presence of trans women in women’s spaces are views i don’t hold anymore. i also understand if people who followed me more recently and were unaware of this post want to unfollow bc i’m aware that many people are rightly wary of apology posts, that they don’t undo past damage and are often performative and rife with a victim complex, although i hope that isn’t how this post reads.

[adequatefrog]

ok ngl, Harry Potter is a good series. Books, movies, both, whatever, it's a good series. Reading the books as an 11 year old was amazing. Watching the movies at 13 was even better— getting to see my favorite characters come to life onscreen is something I'll never forget.

The story in itself is amazing. The plot twists, background information, how it all ties nicely in at the end? Great. But the author, J. K. Rowling, has ruined it.

In my personal opinion, it's perfectly reasonable to have a series without any openly LGBTQ characters. After all, it wasn't a romance novel. It's perfectly understandable that the topic of marriage and LGBTQ rights never came up. Especially because it was told from Harry's perspective; he's oblivious, to put it nicely, and he honestly had better things on his mind than worrying about romance. (I'm just gonna ignore the sixth book here... because he was just being horny in that.)

It sucks, but I'm used to having lots of fandoms or w/e with no LGBTQ characters. It's inaccurate, it's not ideal, but it's common. I probably would've loved the books anyways, if the topic was never spoken about.

Then JKR did the worst thing she could've done. After all her success, after all the movies and plays and merch and spinoffs that happened, she decided to add more details. "Dumbledore is gay," she said, "and had a romantic relationship with his childhood best friend."

Okay, nothing too problematic there. Yes, she waited until past the last minute to announce it; yes, she didn't allude to it at all in the series; yes, she was profiting off this "revelation" without putting an ounce of effort into actually supporting LGBTQ equality.

When the fantastic beasts series came out, I was excited, to say the least. I fell in love with Newt instantly— that's besides the point. Dumbledore was younger in the movies. Dumbledore interacted with his childhood best friend in the movies. I thought, maybe I might get to see some diversity in these movies!! Let's admit it, Harry Potter is one of the biggest, if not the biggest fandoms out there. Having one of the main (well, important) beloved characters be LGBTQ? It seemed revolutionary to me.

And then came the announcement that they would not, in fact, be mentioning Dumbledore's sexuality or relationships in the movies at all. I was crushed.

The fact that JKR thinks can profit off of all this exposure to equality while doing below the bare minimum?? Outrageous. And that's not even Close to the only bad thing she's done. I'm not even gonna touch all the negative transphobic/homophobic/racist/sexist/prejudiced comments she's made recently.

I don't know what I'm saying w this. I'm just mad. The series is so good, the characters are relatable, lovable, geniusly written.. and it's all ruined by an idiotic not-even attempt at expanding praise by being an author of "diverse" characters.

[shinra-makonoid]

Do you think JKR is honestly a radfem or just malinformed? Because the same happened when she defended Maya Forsterer. She argued like she didn't even read the court statement or other witnesses. I really like to give her the benefit of the doubt but she's making it so damn hard :/ Because she just voices her concern for early transitioning, other 'causes', ROGD and states sex is real. I have problems noticing implications but does she mean ill will? Either way Radcliff and Watson are supportive

I don’t think she’s a radfem but I’m pretty sure she’s a GC.

On Twitter, a lot of people still think Forsterer was fired for saying that trans women are men. Nobody cares to actually reach for what’s true so they just go on about this, no matter how many times you tell them that’s not what happened.

I’m not sure she means ill in the end. I don’t think most GC people actually hate trans people (more so a lot of them hate males). They’re concerned, and think that the world has became something that it didn’t, just because of a few cases of abusers. The fact that medias work on lighting up those issues makes it even more “here”. They’re brainwashed, and then it’s a snowball effect, the more you get into it, the more you think it’s an issue, the more you talk about it, the more you get into it, the more you think it’s an issue, etc etc... Also there’s this issue of constantly wanting to be a victim, because they got told that women were victims since the first day they existed, another brainwashing going on.

And then everyone gets into this, because it gets even more massive. I don’t like how Radcliff answered, I think it’s the same shit. Watson was more acceptable, but even then, I’m not sure I agree personally.

It all comes down to the nuance. Saying “trans women are woman end of the line” is as dumb as saying “trans women are men end of the line”. If a trans woman who never pass and never tried to do anything to transition came to me saying that she experienced misogyny IRL, I would doubt that a lot. Same for a trans man about misandry, obviously. But it’s as dumb as saying that trans women never experience misogyny either. The “you’re valid no matter what you do” is a problem, just like “you’re never going to be a man because you’re a woman” is. Simplifying the issue that way is what put us in this mess to begin with, and all of them are participating in it.

There are also nuances in terms of fetishism, like I’ve talked about for AGP or those “lesbians” who thought it was hot to be a man etc. It’s a complex issue, multilayered, and you can’t do it justice by saying “trans people are”. Some trans are different than other trans. Some trans want to get into male bathrooms when they look 100% like a woman and will get mad about being rushed out (I’ve read that happened) and I don’t think it’s transphobic to be asked to go away if you don’t present the gender you claim to be. Just like I wouldn’t think that a trans woman who looks obviously male should go to the female bathroom, and I don’t think it’s transphobic to think that. I think accommodation and support should be offered to trans people who can’t/don’t/won’t pass, but not that everyone should be forced to accept it if they don’t want to either or else they’re bigots. There’s a middle ground in this, and like, nobody said that the life of a transsexual was easy or all pretty, some people just won’t like you because you’re trans and that’s a thing that happens, screaming transphobia to it won’t make them change their mind.

I also think it’s should be a personal responsibility. I never tried to go into the male toilets/locker rooms while not passing, or forced people to let me go there and all. I wouldn’t have done this while presenting female and knowing that I don’t pass. But that was forgotten because everybody can just call everyone transphobic now to be right and having their own ways. Which isn’t right.

But hey, nuance, on the internet? Pffft!

Honestly, if people really wanted to be good trans allies, they would stop talking about trans issues, and forget trans people even exist. 

[lokilicious-hiddles]

I just hope that people can realize you can enjoy someone’s work even if you don’t like them. You can separate them from something they’ve created - within reason. I’m from Canada and I want to use a Canadian band as an example here. There’s a band called Hedley (dunno if people from the States or other countries have heard of them) and the lead singer and other members are responsible for assaulting women. Now to me there’s a line and they crossed it. I cannot, under any circumstances, listen to their music. I just can’t. Thank god it wasn’t the best music in the world, but even if it was I couldn’t do it. Screw those guys.

However, I believe that something like Harry Potter is a bit different. While the things JKR has said are awful, and even if she didn’t necessarily mean her tweets to be transphobic (and I’m only saying that because there’s so many people who are trying to see her point but also, wtf Rowling?) she needs to learn to hold back and think before she says anything. I think it’s possible that if she just learns and listens she might be able to redeem herself one day. It’s important to remember that a take away message from HP is the concept of blood purity - it does not make you a better witch or wizard if your blood is “pure” magical blood. That should tell the reader that it doesn’t matter who you are, you are still important, valid, and a human being above all else. Harry Potter is still a wonderful series with wonderful lessons to learn from it, with magic and whimsy and these strange characters that you can’t help but love.

Remember the characters that JKR, despite her words, created: Luna, who would never not accept someone because they were different or went against “the norm”.

Hermione, who created a whole little organization just for the House Elves who needed help to understand they should be free. She stood up against something she didn’t feel was right. And don’t forget all the times that Hermione used her knowledge and understanding to protect those around her and to understand how people felt.

Mrs. Weasley, who took in a boy pretty much as her own when she didn’t even have to. She gave Harry a family. Remember this when someone comes to you for help when they’re struggling with who they are. Give them a safe space, no matter if they’re coming out as a member of LGBTQ, a POC, or just a friend whose struggling with someone.

Ron, who supported his friends and proved to himself that he could do big things. Support your friends, and remember that you can have courage too.

Neville, who was always nervous but in the end faced his fears. You can do this too.

Draco, who despite coming from a family that was notorious for supporting evil, knew deep down that it was wrong and struggled with this. We see this a lot in Draco in the last two books, and even though in the end he goes with his family, it’s evident that he feels terrible and scared. Remember people like this exist right now as the world is angry - they want to support you but are scared because of the terrible views some people close to them have. Help them. Help them educated those around them and they can be brave enough to show support.

There’s so many more characters that I know I didn’t list, and I know my post isn’t perfect. But I want people to, as Daniel Radcliffe said, remember the magic in Harry Potter. Remember the books and adventures and characters we love. And just look at the sheer impact that this series has had: 8 movies, 2 spin off movies, 2 theme parks (in America, not sure if there’s any others?), set tours, comic conventions, Emma Watson and all the work she has done to support many kinds of efforts for change, and so much more. The series is so much bigger than JKR now.

Sorry for using such a weird example in the beginning of this post, but I wanted to make the point that sometimes it can be hard to still like someone’s work. And that’s okay. You don’t have to like Harry Potter. But if you still do and you’re struggling with that, remember all the reasons to like Harry Potter despite what JKR has said.

I will never understand how she can say these things but has written a series with so many important messages in it and these wonderful characters. And remember that you can imagine these characters when reading the book in anyway you want, to how they look and create new head canons if you want.

Please continue to remember the magic in Harry Potter, and that you still carry the meaning of the series with you. Remember your houses and what that means to you. But remember to use the passion you have to do good, listen, educate people and yourself and let’s show the world that Potterheads aren’t like JKR.

And remember what Dumbledore said: “it is our choices, Harry, that make us who we are”.

The fact that Daniel Radcliffe’s response to JK Rowling was published on the Trevor Project website. The fact that he knew her comments would affect fans’ views of the series. His claim and hope that the magic of the series is what we originally took away from it, regardless of her bigotry. I love one man.