Let’s Talk about why we don’t talk about Harry Potter (any more)

As a trans man and (former) Harry Potter fan, I’ve had a complicated history with the franchise. I haven’t talked about it much in recent years out of respect for trans women. I don’t want to bring more attention to JK Rowling and her transphobic views. But with the recent UK Supreme Court Ruling that defines women by ‘biological’ sex assigned at birth, the attention is already there, so here goes:

I grew up on Harry Potter. I loved the books, the movies, the midnight premieres. I dressed up as Harry for Halloween more times than I could count (and sometimes on random school days). I used to have a YouTube channel dedicated to Harry Potter, cosplayed at LeakyCon, and ran a local chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance. All of this is to say that I was a major fan. I don’t know if I’d be here today if it weren’t for the community of Potterheads that I met along the way.

And then JK Rowling had to start sharing her transphobic opinions online. That ruined the fandom for me. How could I engage with something that put money in the hands of someone who wanted to hurt my friends? How could I support an author who used her platform to spread messages and misinformation that rejects the legitimacy of trans identities? I stopped talking about it online, stopped going to cons, hung up the cosplays, closed the YouTube channel, etc. While I will forever cherish the memories of the fandom and the people I met, my wizarding days ended there. I haven’t given the franchise much thought since.

At this point, it’s impossible to deny that her views and donations are causing harm to trans women. Her arguments—particularly around "protecting women and girls"—are often echoed by political movements working to limit or reverse trans rights. We are seeing a rise in bills banning gender-affirming care, restricting legal gender recognition, and excluding trans people from public life. Don’t even get me started on the bathroom bills, which harms not only trans women, but anyone who doesn’t “look” feminine enough.

Some people might ask if Harry Potter is an influence on my work. Yeah, it influenced my life—I’m sure it influenced my writing. But so did a bunch of other books— Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater to name a few. I’d much rather focus the attention on authors who I admire and respect as people rather than someone who wrote a book I loved as a twelve year old and spewed harmful rhetoric through out my adulthood.

So, if you have any books to recommend for someone who is feeling nostalgic for a magical world that they don’t want to revisit out of respect for trans people, please share it. Feel free to tag me on social media. Otherwise, respectfully, I don’t want to hear about Harry Potter.