Supergirl star Nicole Maines, who plays the first live-action transgender superhero Dreamer, addressed Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling's transphobic essay in a letter of her own.
"The crux of the trans exclusionary movement and argument rests upon the idea that trans women are a threat to cisgender women’s safety and that, by allowing us to exist in public spaces and allowing us to participate in society, we are taking away from the rights of other women," Maines began in her essay on Variety.
From there, she recalled her own experiences as a transgender girl in middle school and dismantled Rowling's anti-trans arguments. In response to Rowling's claim that bathrooms and changing rooms are unsafe once they are opened to the trans community, Maines wrote, "It's a complete non-issue: in the 20 states and roughly 200 cities that have gender-inclusive policies, you’ll find there is no increased negative impact on public safety by allowing trans people to use the facilities that correspond to their gender identity."
"I thought it was surprising that she said she'd been doing all of this research and talking to psychiatrists and members of the community," Maines continued. "One, I'd love to see the receipts. Two, I think that she has been conducting research in a fairly biased way because I have gathered that the vast majority of the medical world disagrees with her line of thinking."
"I had to undergo years of therapy and counseling before I was allowed to change my gender marker on my ID. I procured two letters of recommendation by two different psychologists. I was questioned by everybody else in my life about whether or not I knew myself as well as I said that I did," she recalled. "Nobody undergoes all of that questioning, all of that prodding into their identity to go into the bathroom to have a complete stranger, say, 'Hey, you can’t be in here. You’re just somebody who decided you want to be a girl one day.'"
Nevertheless, Maines is still a Harry Potter fan: "Rowling's comments speak against the very message of her books -- about being stronger together, about inclusion, about self-discovery, bravery and triumph over adversity... I'm still a fan, and I'll tell you why: because these books and their messages still exist, and whatever views Rowling personally has can't take that away from us. Nobody can take that away from us, and that world really belongs to the fans now. Nobody can change if these helped you come out. That belongs to you."
"I think it’s really important to recognize and talk about that, in a time where we are witnessing a historic change in the fight to end oppression against Black lives, she would choose now to attack trans identities and use her massive platform to take away from that discussion. The trans movement and the Black Lives Matter movement share a similar fight in our battles to be safe in our bodies and in our skin, when other people have determined that we are somehow worthy of being treated as less than. It is exhausting to constantly have to try to explain to people, in simpler and simpler terms, that we are just as deserving of human rights, that we’re just as deserving of feeling as safe as they are. And that is what we should be talking about. J.K. Girl. Read the room," she concluded. The essay is available to read in its entirety on Variety.
On June 6, Rowling posted a series of tweets viewed by many as transphobic. One tweet had Rowling respond to an article about COVID-19 that used the phrase "people who menstruate." "I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?" she responded. Since then, she has also written a lengthy letter doubling down and defending these comments and others.
Her recent comments even drew criticism from Harry Potter fans and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe himself, who posted an essay defending trans people on the blog of the LGBT rights group the Trevor Project. Hermione Granger actor Emma Watson, Cho Chang actor Katie Leung and Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne have also spoken out in support of trans rights.
This is not the first time that Rowling, who has 14.5 million followers on Twitter, and her beliefs about transgender identity sparked a social media firestorm. In December, she was criticized for tweeting her support for Maya Forstater, a researcher fired for tweeting that an individual cannot alter their biological sex.
Returning to The CW in mid-2021, Supergirl stars Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers, David Harewood as Martian Manhunter, Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers, Nicole Maines as Dreamer and Jesse Rath as Brainiac-5.