J.K. Rowling is using her wealth attained from the Harry Potter series to create an organization dedicated to removing transgender people's rights "in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces.”
The author announced in a Saturday post to X, formerly Twitter, that she would be founding the J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund (JKRWF) using her personal fortune. The website for the group states that it “offers legal funding support to individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces.”
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“I looked into all options and a private fund is the most efficient, streamlined way for me to do this,” she said. “Lots of people are offering to contribute, which I truly appreciate, but there are many other women’s rights orgs that could do with the money, so donate away, just not to me!”
It is not the first time Rowling has used her over $1 billion net worth to influence legal cases involving so-called "women’s sex-based rights" — a dog whistle used by her and other anti-trans activists to exclude trans people from public spaces and reduce women to their genitals.
Rowling donated £70,000 (roughly $88,200) to the anti-trans group For Women Scotland in 2024 after it lost its challenge to a 2018 Scottish law that legally recognized trans women as women. The group appealed its case to the U.K. Supreme Court, which ruled last month that trans women aren’t considered women under the nation’s Equality Act.
Rowling responded to the decision by posting a picture of her having a drink and smoking a cigar, with the text “I love it when a plan comes together.” The post was widely criticized, including by The Mandalorian and The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal, who called it serious “Voldemort villain s---" and referred to Rowling as a "heinous loser."
Pascal, whose younger sister Lux is trans, urged his followers to not "buy a single Harry Potter thing ever," including by boycotting the upcoming HBO series and attractions at Universal Studios theme parks.
“It’s time to tell these corporations that transphobia loses money," he said.
