A bestselling children’s author has been sacked after expressing support for JK Rowling.
Gillian Philip was removed from her role at Working Partners for defending Rowling’s views on transgenderism.
The Harry Potter author has been repeatedly subjected to online abuse for criticising radical gender ideology.
Support
Philip expressed support for Rowling by adding the hashtag #IStandWithJKRowling to her Twitter handle.
Soon afterwards, her employer announced that she would “no longer be writing” for the company.
In a statement, Philip expressed disappointment that her “hard work and professional attitude” over many years “counted for nothing in the face of an abusive mob of anonymous Twitter trolls”.
Cancelled
Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, commented: “Every day, people’s livelihoods are being destroyed and their names dragged through the mud because they’ve said something others disagree with.
“Anyone who challenges the view of these activists is immediately targeted for cancellation.”
JK Rowling has been inundated with vile online abuse for her stance.
However she is refusing to back down, despite personal criticism from celebrity colleagues Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Eddie Redmayne, who have all starred in films based on her work.
Deep concerns
Rowling has calmly explained her views in a lengthy blog criticising the “climate of fear that serves nobody”.
She said she has “deep concerns” about the effect of transgenderism on children, and in particular young girls.
Rowling said: “I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning”.
Addressing the attacks by trans activists on female-only spaces, she added: “When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman … you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth”.
Punish
Last month, a former deputy leader of the SNP blasted the Scottish Government over how the controversial hate crime legislation threatens those who reject transgender ideology.
Writing in The Spectator, Jim Sillars accused Holyrood of “virtue signalling” and “punishing any who assert biological fact”.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill seeks to extend the law on ‘hate crime’ covering particular characteristics, including religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity.
Limited free speech clauses are included in relation to sexual orientation and religion, which will provide some protection for legitimate debate, but there is no such clause surrounding transgenderism.
Also see:
‘After gruesome trans surgery, I’ve returned to my birth sex’
‘I wish I could turn back the clock’: trans surgery regret
Ex-trans: ‘NHS should have challenged me over belief I was a boy’