Don't Worry, Be Happy

Since Rowling turned TERF, there’s been a lot of needed re-evaluation and criticism of the Harry Potter series to come out. YES they lack in diversity. YES the goblins are anti-semitic. YES there’s fatphobia. YES to all of that, but to say they weren’t very good books to begin with? Fuck that. They were wonderful books. The world-building got stretched too thin when taken outside of the original 7 books, but within the context of Harry and Harry’s story, it’s rich, immersive, and delightfully imaginative. They created a place where weirdos and outsiders could easily imagine themselves happily fitting in. They taught me incredibly important lessons about choosing to be a good person, even when it’s incredibly difficult to do so. Lessons that I think about when I’m doing my own writing or facing a difficult choice.  And ironically its these lessons that I learned from Harry Potter that are the reasons that I’m never buying anything from J.K. Rowling ever again.

Cutting Harry Potter out of my life has been hard. I have so many fond memories related to the books and memories, only to have them tainted by the hatred Rowling would later spew. There are phrases in references that have embedded themselves into my vocabulary so much that I say them without thinking. There are times when I wish I could easily just slip back into that world where I could read fanfiction and look forward to going to the theme park in Orlando, or buy fun fan-made merch on Etsy. But that’s gone.

J.K. Rowling has done immeasurable harm to the trans community. For as difficult as it has been for me to do away with Harry Potter, I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be a trans fan, to have your very existence denied by someone who once was such a bright light, and then to see lingering hatred suddenly be given a very big, very loud voice. To be called either helpless and confused and unable to make the right decisions about my own body, or to be called a predator and a rapist and a threat to women. Yes, her opinions align with those of the Nazis. She wants to eliminate trans people from existence. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the blood Rowling has on her hands after the murder of Brianna Ghey. 

Giving up on Harry Potter fucking sucks. It’s something I used to truly love, and I hate letting it go, but it’s something I have to do, because it is simply the right thing to do. There is no half-assing it, you can’t somehow undo purchasing Hogwarts: Legacy by donating to a trans charity. You have to cut the tumor out completely, or else it will grow and metastasize.

Goodbye, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hogwarts.

HAIM “If I Could Change Your Mind” dir. Warren Fu

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