With next week’s general election looming, former Labour donor J.K. Rowling has accused the party of “abandoning” women and reignited passions online with regards to transgender issues.
The hashtag #IStandAgainstJKRowling has been trending. Here’s the lowdown. Harry Potter author J.
K. Rowling has criticised Labour this week for "abandoning" women over its stance on the rights of transgender people. Writing in , Rowling, a former Labour donor, said she would struggle to vote for Keir Starmer in the upcoming general elections.
Rowling's comments refer to Labour’s pledge to “modernise” the process by which people can change gender. In its election manifesto, Labour has committed to making it easier for people to legally change gender, replacing the “outdated” necessity to present evidence showing that a person has lived as their new gender for two years with a “reflection period” lasting the same amount of time. Labour would also ditch a panel of doctors and lawyers that currently approves gender-recognition certificates.
Her comments also came after the Labour leader appeared to shift his position on transgender rights. In 2021, Starmer said it was “not right” for Rosie Duffield, a Labour MP who has stressed the importance of biological sex, to say that only women have a cervix. He has recently strengthened his position on transgender issues to agree with former Labour leader Tony Blair that a woman has a vagina and a man has a penis.
Despite these rec.
