JK Rowling reported to UK police for ‘misgendering’ trans broadcaster as a ‘man’
The UK’s first transgender national news anchor has reported “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling to the police for “misgendering” her as a “man” on social media.
India Willoughby, 58, reported having “contacted Northumbria Constabulary” over a series of X posts Sunday by the outspoken author.
Rowling, also 58, called Willoughby “just a man reveling in his misogynistic performance of what he thinks ‘woman’ means: narcissistic, shallow and exhibitionist.”
Rowling had “definitely committed a crime,” Willoughby alleged to Byline TV Wednesday, claiming the best-selling author was guilty of a “cut-and-dry offense.”
“I’m legally a woman, she knows I’m a woman, and she calls me a man.
“It’s a protected characteristic and that is a breach of both the Equalities Act and the Gender Recognition Act. She’s tweeted that out to 14 million followers,” Willoughby wrote.
Rowling hit back, saying that free speech was protected under British law — and suggesting that Willoughby’s “obsessive targeting” of her constituted defamation and harassment.
She has long been outspoken on transgender issues, saying last year that she would rather serve jail time than be forced to concede that gender isn’t a biological trait determined at birth.
That statement came after a report that the nation’s Labour Party would make deliberately calling someone by the wrong gender a hate crime punishable by imprisonment.
“There is no possible charge. There is no such thing as a hate crime without there first being an actual crime. India is relying on the police not understanding this basic fact,” Harry Miller from WeAreFairCop, a group of “gender critical lawyers, police officers, writers & professionals,” told the Telegraph.
“Misgendering may be rude but it’s not even in the foothills of being criminal.”
The latest kerfuffle came after Rowling and Willoughby had been locked in a war of words for over a year.
Last January, Willoughby tweeted, “I’m more of a woman than JK Rowling will ever be.” A screenshot of the post was shared by Rowling, who wrote “citation needed.”
The author first sparked backlash amongst trans people in 2019 when she supported a tax specialist who was fired for being anti-trans.
A year later, she penned a lengthy essay railing against “current trans activism,” which she claimed was “pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender.”
Northumbria police did not return a request for comment from the British outlet.