Y’er an ally, Harry!
In the wake of JK Rowling’s continued dismissal of trans women, the actor who starred as the titular Harry Potter in the movie adaptations of the best-selling books had something to say, not to its author, but to the world.
Trans women are women. Period.
You can read the full statement at the Trevor Project website HERE.
As a Harry Potter fan, I grew up with Daniel Raddcliffe’s portrayal, but I never truly felt like he was Harry. He was okay at the role, but I never loved the movie adaptations, and that meh feeling extended to him.
Till now.
His voice on this subject is especially important, because he was one of the few who could reassure us that the messages we got from the books were the right ones, and JK Rowling was the one who was wrong. As he said:
To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
And if you take something from his message other than what he so beautifully articulated, let it be this: You don’t have to be who other people say you are. No one writes your story but you.
Be like our real life Harry Potter. Be an ally.