Daniel Radcliffe stresses speaking out against J.K Rowling's transphobic views

Daniel Radcliffe revealed he would be feeling "an immense guilt" if he did not speak against Potter author J.K Rowling’s anti-trans comments.

During an interview with IndieWire, the Harry Potter star said, “The reason I was felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that."

The British actor said that knowing how “hurt” the trans community was by Rowling's comments pushed him to understand how “important” it was for them to understand “not everybody in the franchise felt that way.”

The furor against Rowling started in June 2020 after she shared a series of Twitter comments explaining that gender identity negates biological sex.

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction,” the author wrote at the time. “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”

“Transgender women are women,” Radcliffe responded in his 2020 rebuttal. 

“Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

“To all the people who now feel that their experience of the Harry Potter 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," the actor added.