JK Rowling faces backlash for defending Elon Musk's cisgender remarks
'Media Buzz' host Howard Kurtz joins 'The Story' to discuss J.K. Rowling weighing in on a Twitter debate over Elon Musk's cisgender comments.
JK Rowling said she would "happily" spend time in jail if the government in the United Kingdom made it a hate crime to call someone by the wrong pronouns.
"I'll happily do two years if the alternative is compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex," Rowling posted on X after one user told her that under the Labour Party, that could mean two years in jail. "Bring on the court case, I say. It'll be more fun than I've ever had on a red carpet."
The message was in response to a photo of lighted letters outside the United Kingdom's Ministry of Justice that said: "Repeat After Us: Trans Women Are Women" to which Rowling responded "no" in an X post.
Author J.K. Rowling said she would "happily do two years" in jail rather than be compelled to use preferred pronouns to refer to transgender people. (Twitter/Getty Images)
Deliberately calling someone by the incorrect pronouns could be considered a hate crime punishable by imprisonment under a Labour government in the United Kingdom, which is a stricter penalty than what already exists, according to reporting by the Daily Mail Saturday. It "is already a hate crime" in the country if someone deliberately misgenders another person if they are motivated by hostility toward the victim's transgender identity, the UK parliament clarified last year. But Labour's reported policy would take that penalty even further.
"The Conservatives are failing to protect LGBT+ people with their inability to get a handle on hate crime, including violent hate crime. Labour will strengthen the law to ensure the perpetrators of anti-LGBT+ hate can no longer dodge longer sentences," Anneliese Dodds, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, said, according to the Daily Mail.
‘HARRY POTTER’ AUTHOR J.K. ROWLING SAYS PEOPLE ‘MISUNDERSTOOD’ HER COMMENTS ABOUT BIOLOGICAL SEX
"Men defining what a woman is" and claiming "what women should and shouldn’t fear" are the true misogynists, author J.K. Rowling said. (Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Attacks motivated by hatred of the victim's gender identity could be considered "aggravated offenses," previously used for assault and harassment motivated by hatred on the grounds of race or religion, so perpetrators of such crimes could face prison sentences of up to two years.
Fox News Digital reached out to the British Labour Party for a statement on future plans, should the party regain power in the next parliamentary elections (which must be held no later than January 2025). This article will be updated with any response.
Critics of such policies, including Rowling, argue this is compelled speech as it would require them to use a transgender person's preferred pronouns in violation of what they believe to be true.
Rowling also joked with her followers about what her time in prison would look like.
"Hoping for the library, obviously, but I think I could do ok in the kitchens," she wrote. "Laundry might be a problem. I have a tendency to shrink stuff/turn it pink accidentally. Guessing that won't be a major issue if it's mostly scrubs and sheets, though."
"I'm ok at ironing. It's the not checking there's a random red sock in amongst the sheets that's the issue," she added.
In March, a Christian street preacher, who was the first to be prosecuted and reported to a U.K. counterterrorism watchdog for allegedly misgendering a transgender person, won his appeal in court, challenging a UK law that empowers police to arrest someone who causes "harassment, alarm or distress" of anyone nearby.
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