On Sunday, author JK Rowling took to Twitter stating that she had just discovered that she had been "accused of hate". The allegation was made by UK MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle in an article published by Tribune Magazine. The Minister had also taken to Twitter earlier in the day to issue an apology.
"He claimed I was ‘using’ my experiences of sexual assault and domestic violence to ‘discriminate’ against trans people," Rowling wrote. The author noted that the retraction and apology had come "after his remarks were repeated in national newspapers with higher circulations than circulations than Tribune". She adds that Russell-Moyle had not tagged her or involved her in the apology.
"I want to apologies unreservedly about the comments in the article that I wrote last week in Tribune regarding Trans rights in which I mention J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling's first disclosures of domestic abuse and sexual assault in her recent article on Trans issues were heartfelt and must have been hard to say,(sic)" Russell-Moyle had tweeted.
He added that while he may disagree with Rowling on some points, it was wrong of him to "suggest that she used her own dreadful experience in anything other than good faith".
"I have asked Tribune to remove the line in question," he had added.
It must be mentioned however, that the article seems to be unedited, at least at the end of Sunday.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, Rowling explained how the discourse had begun in the first place, going on to say that many people had reached out to her over the same.
She said that Russell-Moyle's allegation had stemmed from an essay that Rowling had written recently. The story dates back to the time when Rowling had tweeted her support to a woman who had lost her job, apparently, for ‘transphobic’ tweets. Since then, there have been several back-and-forth developments, with Rowling recently being 'cancelled' by many for being 'transphobic'.
In a post on her website, Rowling had written that she was being told that she "was literally killing trans people with my hate", even as others on social media platforms hurled abuse and epithets at her.
"What I didn’t expect in the aftermath of my cancellation was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive," she writes, adding that these people had been "deeply concerned about the way a socio-political concept is influencing politics, medical practice and safeguarding".
In her tweet on Sunday, Rowling said that Russell-Moyle was reacting to a part of her essay where she had written about her own person experiences. "Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who’ve been abused by men," Rowling had written in her essay.
In follow-up tweets, Rowling expounded further on what she had experienced since she wrote the essay, adding that there had been more than 3000 emails that had thanked her for speaking up.
"When so-called leftists like @lloyd_rm demand that we give up our hard won sex-based rights, they align themselves squarely with men’s rights activists. To both groups, female trauma is white noise, an irrelevance, or else exaggerated or invented," she alleged.
"I accept @lloyd_rm 's apology in the hope that he’ll dig a little deeper than hashtags and slogans. He might then understand why increasing numbers of people are deeply concerned about @UKLabour ’s position on women’s rights," she added in a final tweet.
