Daniel Radcliffe speaks out in support of trans rights following JK Rowling controversy

Harry Potter fans found some comfort after Daniel Radcliffe, AKA the boy who lived, issued a statement in support of trans rights.

After Harry Potter author JK Rowling faced severe and widespread backlash for a series of tweets labelled as 'anti-trans', the actor issued a statement through the The Trevor Project:

"Transgender women are women," Radcliffe said. "Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people."

Over the weekend, Rowling took issue with a headline on an online article discussing “people who menstruate” and said: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” This was followed by a slew of more tweets on “sex being real.”

Anyway, Radcliffe also encouraged people to join him in learning how to become a better ally, directing readers to resources available through The Trevor Project. The project is an American non-profit organisation founded in focused on suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ+ youth.

David Mack, a BuzzFeed editor, said in a tweet: “I love that he did this with Trevor Project. It shows how mindful he is of the harm her comments had on trans youth.”

Some were happy that he did not really directly address Rowling’s comment, saying that it kept nonsense out of the spotlight and focused on the real issue at hand.

One Twitter user wrote, “ He also refused to let the headline be a feud between himself and Rowling, keeping the spotlight on the affected LGBTQ+ community.”

Radcliffe did briefly mention the author of the series in his statement saying that,

“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.”

The 30-year-old actor also cited the statistic that 78 per cent of transgender and non-binary youth have reported they’ve been discriminated against due to their gender identity.

It seems that @lonleyfilms had a premonition about this all unfolding a few days earlier:

While Radcliffe said he hopes Rowling’s comments will not “tarnish or diminish” the series for fans, it seems he knows the 'Wizarding World' is really not the issue at hand here.