By Andrew Allison, Head of Campaigns
You may remember that back in June, J K Rowling hit the headlines for allegedly being “transphobic” - which is one of the greatest sins you can commit these days. “She must be cancelled”, they said. And a torrent of sexist, misogynist abuse has been poured on her ever since. There is even a disgusting hashtag “RIPJKRowling” doing the rounds.
All she did was respond on Twitter to a headline which said “Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate” by saying, “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
But by stating a biological fact she went against what the trans lobby insists you must believe.
Rowling, writing under her crime writer pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, has had a new novel published in which a doctor is believed to have been murdered by a cross-dressing man. Of course, a man dressing up as a woman to commit a crime is not the same as a trans woman going about their lawful business. That should be obvious, but once again the trans lobby is gunning for her.
They have even started to burn her books in protest. They want every copy of anything she has written erased. But they won’t win as Rowling has many fans and she is simply too famous to silence. And eventually they will forget about her and move on to their next victims, but those other victims may not be as famous and as strong as her.
There was a time when I thought this woke nonsense was a fad, but now I think differently. We need to stand up against those who insist we must all think the same. The trans lobby, Black Lives Matter, and Extinction Rebellion are three examples of organisations and movements which will not stop until you bend the knee and commit to their way of thinking. There is a word for it: fascism. Because if we don't stand up to them, they are going to keep targeting, in a vicious way, anyone who dares to criticise them. In the words of Martin Niemöller:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Free speech matters. We need to do more to defend it.
Photo Credit: Cartoonistarif