Open Letter from Autors and Entertainers in Support of JKR

[Igneococcus]

In the Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d714149e-003d-11eb-a6ce-737681864bdd?shareToken=522b280f5312e063be007bba64a0e96d

Here is the letter (a few down the list):
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/2e240198-fe6a-11ea-a6ce-737681864bdd?shareToken=8bcca8afb981c27e32894e05e7776f41

And the signatories:

We wish JK Rowling well and stand in solidarity with her.
Ian McEwan, author; Lionel Shriver, author; Griff Rhys Jones, actor; Graham Linehan, writer; Maureen Chadwick, writer; Andrew Davies, writer; Frances Barber, actress; Craig Brown, writer; Alexander Armstrong, actor; Amanda Craig, writer; Philip Hensher, writer; Susan Hill, writer; Jane Thynne, writer; Ben Miller, actor; Simon Fanshawe, writer; James Dreyfus, actor; Frances Welch, writer; Francis Wheen, writer; Arthur Matthews, writer; Aminatta Forna, writer; Joan Smith, writer; Nick Cohen, journalist; Kath Gotts, composer & lyricist; Ann McManus, writer; Eileen Gallagher, writer & producer; Jimmy Mulville, producer; Lizzie Roper, actress; Stella O’Malley, author; Nina Paley, animator; Julie Bindel, journalist; Abigail Shrier, journalist; Rachel Rooney, author; Jane Harris, writer; Tatsuya Ishida, cartoonist; Lisa Marchiano, author; Zuby, musician and author; Debbie Hayton, journalist; Gillian Philip, Author, Jonny Best, musician; Manick Govinda, arts consultant; Russell Celyn Jones, writer; Magi Gibson, writer; Victoria Whitworth, writer; Dr Mez Packer, writer; Grace Carley, producer; Sam Leith, journalist; Malcolm Clark, television producer-director; Shirley Wishart, musician; Charlotte Delaney, writer; Nehanda Ferguson, musician; Justin Hill, writer; Trezza Azzopardi, writer; Birdy Rose, artist; Jess de Wahls, textile artist; Mo Lovatt, writer; Simon Edge, novelist; Tom Stoppard, playwright; and Amanda Smyth, writer

Was just about to post this. Thank you.

Fantastic news, and that it so clearly points out the misogyny, which is the issue, and doesn't even mention the word 'trans', which is not.

Great to see some new big names on there, like Ian McEwan and Tom Stoppard. Shame they couldn't have come out and said this three months ago, but hey, better late than never, and great to see the fightback gathering pace.

Once the Emperor has been publicly called out and told to put some clothes on, it is increasingly possible for everyone to discuss the Emperor's nudity without career-ending risk.

Hope that certain types like Stephen King and Philip Pullman, who shat on JK Rowling in her time of need, are now feeling full of shame.

At last!

Lovely to see those names. Safety in numbers, and with the events of recent days. I don’t really blame them for not coming out in support sooner (with notable exceptions). Same reason lots of us hide our fears except anonymously online.

Excellent thanks for posting this.

Wonderful!

More good news. What a great week!

Alexander Armstrong is so much on TV including hosting HIGNFY frequently, that is a great name to have there.

Fantastic news, and that it so clearly points out the misogyny, which is the issue, and doesn't even mention the word 'trans', which is not

Agree @xxyzz it focuses on the issue and makes it harder to reasonably disagree with

Brilliant

Yay!

Very pleased. Some massive names on there coming out.

Hurrah!

Great to see, but even the Times gets it wrong:

Troubled Blood, Rowling’s latest Cormoran Strike detective novel published on September 15 under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, featured a male murderer with a fetish for women’s clothing.

He possibly used women’s clothing in a failed abduction and it’s alluded to as an MO to deceive witnesses, and kept souvenirs of his victims. There is no “fetish for women’s clothing”.

Fantastic. Some big names there. Just hoping they all stand firm and aren't bullied in to recanting. Or has the debate truly moved on? Are these views acceptable now?

Oh dear, all the students that will now have to boycott Pointless.

About time.

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.

We are signing this letter in the hope that, if more people stand up against the targeting of women online, we might at least make it less acceptable to engage in it or profit from it.

Yeah from the letter above. Is about the way twitter suspends women but allows threats to to kill rape and burn to to women to stay 🤷‍♀️

Brilliant but this gaslighting quote from Stonewall absolutely infuriates me:

”Our school training and guidance is clear that teachers shouldn’t make assumptions about whether a child is trans because they don’t conform to gender stereotypes.”

They’re the ones who have trained teachers to make assumptions, to ignore safeguarding good practice and to keep parents in the dark. Such a bunch of back-pedalling liars.

Great to see Ben Miller and Alexander Armstrong on there, as well as Griff Rhys Jones.

Very glad to see the debate being focused back where it should always have been focused, on misogyny.

Trans rights were never the issue, the attack on women's (and children's) rights were always the central issue and trans issues just used by MRAs as a Trojan horse to make their misogyny not just socially acceptable but literally undebateable.

We need to absolutely stop being on the defensive on trans issues.

We need to be on the ATTACK against misogyny. Which is what it is. Which is all it is.

Same old, same old misogyny. New pink frilly wrapper. Same old misogyny.

Certainly whenever anyone on social media attacks me as a 'transphobe', I ignore the accusation and focus on their misogyny instead, which is the real issue ( and which they never have an answer to, as it is true).

Pissing myself at the ppl I follow on social media who started calling Father Ted (as an intentionally childish joke) "Arthur Mathews' Father Ted".

You can really see from this who would actually stand up against totalitarianism.

The Mccarthyist bullies have had their day.

Some big names here! Thank you all