Daniel Radcliffe says it is "important" to speak out against JK Rowling's views on transgender community

By now, it is well known that writer JK Rowling has strongly established her conservative thoughts on the transgender community and has been branded as TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist). At times when the author is receiving backlash for her opinions, actor Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed Rowling's character Harry Potter, in the film franchise, has said that it is "really important" that he spoke for the transgender community. The actor had previously published an open letter stating that "Transgender women are women".

The actor, in an interview with IndieWire, spoke about how he decided to voice his opinions against Rowling. "The reason I was felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing ‘Potter,’ I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that. And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important," the actor said to IndieWire.

Daniel had published an open letter in June 2020, extending his support to the transgender community. He wrote the letter on The Trevor Project's website, a non profit organisation which caters to the LGBTQ community and suicide prevention among them. Daniel had written in his letter, "It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm."

"It was really important as I’ve worked with the Trevor Project for more than 10 years, and so I don’t think I would’ve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything,” Radcliffe added. “But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head," the actor had further written.

Rowling's unpopular opinion erupted into controversy in June 2020, when she tweeted and argued that discussions pertaining to gender identity negates biological sex. "If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives," Rowling had written.

However, the Harry Potter star  expressed his difference of opinion on the subject matter. “Transgender women are women,” Radcliffe wrote in his open letter. “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.”

 “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the [Harry Potter] books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you,” he added.

Daniel is not the only Harry Potter actor to voice his opinion against the Rowling’s opinions. Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the films, had said to The Independent, “’m pro-choice, pro-discussion, pro-human rights across the board and pro-love. And anything that is not those things, I don’t really have much time for.”