For years now, J.K. Rowling has been taking a stance that’s left trans Harry Potter fans and allies heartbroken and wondering how to navigate the world that once meant a lot to them. While some have been able to compartmentalize the work vs the creator, others have gradually extricated themselves from the wizarding world — no easy feat when you love something.
But one trans fan found a way to put that disappointment to good use.
A Twitter user who supports Rowling’s TERFdom shared a photo of Rowling smiling alongside the caption “JK Rowling’s face when she finds out you burnt all the merch you spent your childhood allowance on for years,” suggesting that she doesn’t care because she’s already made bank off of everyone.
And that may be true, but @itsendeavor was quick to comment that he found an even better use for that old merch.
“I’ve sold a lot of HP merch for tons of money (£3000) which paid towards my top surgery,” he wrote.
People were obsessed with this turn of the tables, and told @itsendeavor as much.
The original tweet mocking fans who didn’t want to hold onto their merch after Rowling decided to start being so vocally anti-trans sparked others to reply with what they used that merchandise for as well.
Harry Potter fans have been vocal about donating money either from their merch or directly in response to Rowling’s piping up against the trans community yet again in the past, often using it to benefit LGBTQ+ charities. The ironic thing is that turning hurt into a way to fight for something good is a lesson many probably learned from the books in the first place. It remains endlessly strange that their own author seemed to have missed out on that message.
