Harry Potter franchise co-star Rupert Grint has joined his castmates Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in defending trans rights after comments made last weekend by J.K. Rowling.
Grint, who played Ron Weasley in Warner Bros’ Harry Potter series of films, released a statement Friday in the UK, saying: “I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”
Screenwriter Steve Kloves, who wrote all eight Harry Potter movies as well as the upcoming third film in the spinoff Fantastic Beasts franchise, also weighed in today, telling Variety that “Our diversity is our strength. In these challenging times, it’s more important than ever that transgender women and men, and people who are non-binary, feel safe and accepted for who they are. It seems very little to ask.”
Radcliffe, Watson, fellow Potter film alum Bonnie Wright and Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne have also spoke out in favor of the trans community since Rowling’s tweet Saturday when she said: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. 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. It isn’t hate to speak the truth…The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women — ie, to male violence — ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences — is a nonsense.”
The backlash came quickly, with GLAAD slamming Rowling’s remarks saying they “willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans.” Warner Bros, Rowling’s publisher Scholastic and Universal Parks which operates the Wizarding World attractions have since weighed in as well.
“The events in the last several weeks have firmed our resolve as a company to confront difficult societal issues,” Warner Bros said in part in its statement.
Rowling herself penned a 3,600-word essay on her website Wednesday morning in an effort to clarify and expound upon her words. “This isn’t an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear,” she wrote, explaining later that she was a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, “but I know it’s time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.”