John Lithgow on JK Rowling

[QAOPspaceman]

basically admits he hasn’t bothered thinking about her position on gender identity. The Harry Potter books are about tolerance so her stance is ‘inexplicable’, yet he’s never met her and only ‘read about her views’.
Read her for yourself pal! Do your own fucking thinking!

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/feb/02/john-lithgow-says-he-finds-jk-rowlings-stance-on-trans-rights-ironic-and-inexplicable?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Gretel346 · Today 08:59

Misgendering & refusing access to basic necessary public ammenities is discrimination.

"Misgendering can be, but is not necessarily discrimination. If you continually hassle a transw, saying, "Eurgh! You're a man," that may well be so adjudged. Pointing out that transw are men, in a causal conversation, or in a debate, is not.

No man LARPing as a woman is being refused access to necessary public amenities. No man is legally allowed to use womens' toilets, whether he's wearing jeans, or an LBD. Simple.

Indeed. I never 'misgender' anyone, because I never 'gender' them at all. I may have occassion to refer to their sex, but as we keep being told sex is not the same as gender.

Because most people haven’t actually read what JKR wrote, they have just seen quotes taken out of context and “heard” she’s a wrongun. Rather than fact check it they go along with what social media tells them.

Rejection of what principles? Misogynist ones? Misogyny?

You've been asked numerous questions you refuse to answer, and I believe that is because you are not here in good faith. Such as what is it that JKR said, in HER OWN WORDS, not a third hand 'source' that twists it and puts a disingenuous slant on it, has she ever said that is 'transphobic'. Answer that. What in this is, 'transphobic'? Have the decency and honesty to answer, in your own words WITHOUT using a third hand source. Go on, back yourself. www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/

in preaching about acceptance in Harry Potter but not living it in practice

How is JKR not living acceptance here? And again, have the courage to answer and not ignore it.

PS For those of us with a working conscience he masterfully did…& it was beautiful!

Then why are MRAs/trans activists so unhappy with his wishy washy response then???

Stating feminist beliefs is a protected right in society, per the Forstater judgement, and is "worthy of respect in a democratic society". What you want, is to discriminate against science, biological facts, and beliefs. You want to discriminate against a vulnerable and protected characteristic.

That's why the male sex has privacy in male spaces....

There is no right to compelled speech. No one is compelled to MIS-SEX a male or remove FEMALE basic and necessary public amenities. Forcing a female to ignore her lived experience as the oppressed sex, to mis-sex a male in order to cosplay in his fetish and to remove her basic necessary public amenities is discrimination!

Reviving this thread as this has just appeared in my podcast feed and don’t know if I have it in me to listen. What is it with the New Yorker? They have been utterly appalling to JKR for years - what is the point of their fact checkers when they run hateful shit like this without a care? I suppose I should listen to see exactly what Lithgow and Remnick have to say for themselves. But unsubscribing is now long overdue.

For what it’s worth I did listen to this. Remnick described JKR as having views that are “to many ears as ugly as any prejudice around”.

Lithgow loftily opines she displays “impudent prejudice”, and obviously he didn’t know anything about it until he’d already taken the role and people told him to walk away. The stories are too good, steady work yada yada.

It ends with Remnick leading Lithgow to agree that both are “surprised by ferocity and cruelty in her tone” online.

Impudent prejudice! That’s a new one. I know American libel laws are different, but how the New Yorker has got away with its deeply nasty character assassination of JKR over the years I do not know.

Lithgow keeps popping up to blacken JKR's name, like the rest of them he never quotes what she's said that's so bad, but he does stop wringing his hands long enough to take the cash.

The bloke playing Snape has done much the same. He's also talked of the shameful racist abuse he's received. I think, although Alan Rickman is a hard act to follow, he'll make all but the worst of them eat their words. He's not said a dickybird about the abuse he'll have received from tras. In that he is probably wiser than Lithgow as he can sidestep what a massive hypocrite he's being.

Lithgow loftily opines she displays “impudent prejudice”, and obviously he didn’t know anything about it until he’d already taken the role and people told him to walk away. The stories are too good, steady work yada yada.

Oh yes, men really don't like impudent women. It must be a massive source of regret to these misogynists that they can no longer burn impudent women at the stake or lock them up in mental asylums.

Impudent women, forsooth. Who does he think he is, Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP?

Quite!

Let’s put that in capitals.

BUT HE DOES STOP WRINGING HIS HANDS ENOUGH TO TAKE THE CASH

Oh no, not JCO! Such a wonderful, thoughtful writer. So disappointing😕

So many of the people who criticise JKR haven't bothered to read her essay explaining her position.
A colleague told me she didn't need to because Rowling had written an entire book criticising a transwoman. That never happened.