Author J.K. Rowling sent a crate of champagne to a feminist activist who heckled Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, claiming changes to gender laws would allow paedophiles and rapists to self-identify as women.
The best-selling Harry Potter author sent the case of champagne this week to feminist Alexandra Darroch, who heckled left-separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon during a speech in Edinburgh on the topic of violence against women.
“You’ve fomented this culture in Scotland that basically tells women they are bigoted for standing up for women’s rights. I see you, and thousands of women around Scotland see you,” Darroch said.
“And those of you sitting here are complicit, keeping your mouths shut while women have actually been raped by males who have self-ID-ed as women,” she continued, in comments quoted by The Daily Mail.
“That’s got nothing to do with trans rights, I support trans rights and have done for three decades now and I will continue to,” Darroch added. Her comments were filmed and later posted on social media.
Darroch’s statements come in reaction to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which would allow people in Scotland to change their gender simply by self-identifying as whichever gender they want.
According to Darroch, the bill could lead to women being put in danger as men identifying as women would be allowed in women’s spaces.
“It’s got all the hallmarks even with the language, the compelled speech, suppression of speech, punishing women, and police turning up at women’s homes,” she said.
J.K. Rowling reacted to the footage on Twitter, stating: “Scenes. In spite of all careful precautions, the First Minister has been accidentally exposed to some freedom of speech. Heads will surely roll. (If nobody’s yet sent that heckler a crate of whatever her favourite tipple is, do please send me her details)”.
Rowling has been a fierce critic of Sturgeon and her devolved government’s proposal to change the law on gender.
“[I]ntact males” — i.e. transwomen who have not had ‘bottom surgery’ to remove their penises — “who are judged to have met the meagre requirements will be considered as ‘valid’… and more male-bodied individuals will assert more strongly a right to be in women’s spaces such as public bathrooms, changing rooms, rape support centres, domestic violence refuges, hospital wards and prison cells that were hitherto reserved for women,” Rowling wrote in October.
“Rarely in politics is it easy to draw a direct line from a single policy decision to the harm it’s done, but in this case, it will be simple. If any woman or girl suffers voyeurism, sexual harassment, assault or rape in consequence of the Scottish government’s lax new rules, the blame will rest squarely with those at Holyrood who ignored safeguarding experts and women’s campaigners,” she said.
Last month, Rowling slammed the Labour Party in Scotland for supporting Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) in its proposed gender law reforms, accusing the left-wing party of ignoring those who have raised issues with the proposal.
Rowling and Darroch’s fears are not unwarranted, as there have been cases in Scotland of sexual abuse involving transgender women, such as that of Katie Dolatowski, who was convicted of sexually abusing a ten-year-old girl at a supermarket and later infiltrated a women’s shelter in England, living among women and children for several months.
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