Trans-owned bookshop invites customers to deface JK Rowling's Harry Potter books

Ex-SNP councillor and gender critical activist debate JK Rowling's claim that Labour cannot be trusted with women's rights |
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Customers can donate 25p to vandalise a book as a fundraiser for transgender healthcare
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A trans-owned bookshop has invited customers to pay to deface JK Rowling's Harry Potter books.
For a donation of 25p towards healthcare for transgender people, customers at The Bookish Type, in Leeds, will be able to deface a page of the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Rowling, 60, is one of the country's most prominent gender-critical voices and activists.
She has become a target of attacks on social media and now on her books as a result of her views.
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One page, addressing Mrs Rowling by her first name, reads: "Trans people will outlast you, Joanne."
Another message, also addressed to the Harry Potter author, read: "You’ve ruined yourself, ruined the name of feminism and ruined the precious childhood of thousands of women and girls."
The Bookish Type said it was hosting the vandalisation fundraiser as a "silly and cathartic way to raise money for five local trans people".
But gender-critical activists said the event bookshop was engaging in "childish displays of petty destruction".

The Bookish Type has allowed customers to vandalise Harry Potter books for a 25p donation
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Maya Forstater, chief executive of the sex-based rights charity Sex Matters, said the book vandalisation was "the most striking example I’ve seen of trans activists misrepresenting where the real harm lies".
She said JK rowling had been vindicated for speaking out on trans issues "well before the Government and NHS started to recognise this scandal".
She added: "The Bookish Type and fellow activists can engage in childish displays of petty destruction all they like. Thankfully, the adults are now back in charge when it comes to the health and safeguarding of gender-distressed children."
A spokesman for The Bookish Type said: "Camille Sapara Barton speaks on the necessity of tending to grief within social and political movements to avoid burnout and build sustainable resistance.
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JK Rowling has an executive credit on the upcoming Harry Potter HBO series
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"We believe a similar thing can be said about tending to joy, hence, the desire to spread joy among the community is central to this initiative.
"Existing as a trans person in this political climate is both exhausting and terrifying; it feels especially important to give the community a way to release some emotion."
The trans-owned independent bookshop added that it had received an "overwhelmingly positive" response to the fundraiser from its local community and the international community.
"People from Portugal, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand and the US have reached out to donate to the campaign," it said.

JK Rowling has received attacks and protests as a result of her gender-critical views, including this sign from a protest in London last year
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Many people have offered to donate old copies of the best-selling Harry Potter series to be vandalised, The Bookish Type said.
It said fundraising efforts will continue during Second Hand Sunday, an event which will fill the book shop with pre-owned LGBTQ+ books.
The trailer for the new Harry Potter series, to air on HBO, was released earlier this week.
The series will feature three new actors taking on the roles of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and is supported by Mrs Rowling who has an executive producer credit.
Despite being cast as Albus Dumbledore, John Lithgow said it was a "hard decision" to accept the role due to the author's gender-critical views, which he said were "inexplicable".
And Keira Knightley, set to voice Professor Dolores Umbridge in a new iteration of the audiobooks, received backlash after she claimed she was "not aware" of boycotts of Mrs Rowling's works.










