Skip to main content

Home News News World

1 October 2020

Over 200 writers and publishers sign letter in support of trans and non-binary people

After figures including Gimme Gimme Gimme's James Dreyfus signed letter in support of JK Rowling.

By Jamie Tabberer

Over 200 writers and publishers have signed a letter in support of trans and nonbinary people.

The move follows a letter in the Sunday Times defending JK Rowling following backlash to her views on trans issues signed by cultural figures including Gimme Gimme Gimme’s James Dreyfus.

The new letter, titled ‘A Message from Members of the UK and Irish Publishing Community’, was shared on The Second Shelf website yesterday.

It reads: “This is a message of love and solidarity for the trans and non-binary community. Culture is, and should always be, at the forefront of societal change, and as writers, editors, agents, journalists, and publishing professionals, we recognise the vital role our industry has in advancing and supporting the wellbeing and rights of trans and non-binary people. We stand with you, we hear you, we see you, we accept you, we love you. The world is better for having you in it.

“Non-binary lives are valid, trans women are women, trans men are men, trans rights are human rights.”

The letter has been signed by authors Juno Dawson, Elizabeth Day and Bryony Gordon, among others.

The previous letter in support of JK Rowling said she “has been subjected to an onslaught of abuse that highlights an insidious, authoritarian and misogynistic trend in social media.

“Rowling has consistently shown herself to be an honourable and compassionate person, and the appalling hashtag #RIPJKRowling is just the latest example of hate speech directed against her and other women that Twitter and other platforms enable and implicitly endorse.”

Other signees included Bad Girls and Footballers’ Wives writer Maureen Chadwick, journalist Julie Bindel and the novelists Philip Hensher and Simon Edge.

Rowling has made a number of inflammatory public statements about trans issues over the last year. In June, she said of “people who menstruate”: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

Meanwhile she last week tweeted about a t-shirt from a shop selling transphobic products.

(Main picture: Pexels, posed by models)

In This Article: