It’s been one year since the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that transgender women aren’t considered women under the nation’s Equality Act. For Women Scotland, the group that pushed for the decision, is now back in the spotlight — predictably, with the help of author and supporter J.K. Rowling.
This week, the Harry Potter scribe, who’s now just as well known for her politics as her written work, inserted herself into a public standoff between the conservative advocacy group and podcast host Alaistair Campbell. The initial dispute started about a week ago when For Women Scotland floated the idea on X of going on The Rest Is Politics, the podcast cohosted by Campbell and Rory Stewart, while the members were in London to mark one year since the ruling that changed the legal definition of womanhood in the U.K.
When the group didn’t get invited on as guests, despite days of trolling by their supporters on social media, they posted a taunting “farewell London” message on X Tuesday, tagging Campbell. Rowling, who helped fund the landmark legal challenge, reposted the message with a GIF of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo clutching each other and text reading “live footage of [Alaistair Campbell] and [Rory Stewart] just in.”
Like many people who have been publicly mocked by Rowling in recent years, Campbell engaged with the author and her supporters on X, writing that he and Stewart would welcome Rowling on their offshoot show Leading — as they considered her a “leading voice” — and that he had tried to get her as a guest in the past but been rebuffed.
In response, Rowling wrote, “That’s because I wasn’t interested in being used to boost the viewing figures of a pair of exceptionally arrogant men whose understanding of this issue drips with classism and misogyny.
“If you’re genuinely interested in a debate I’m at a loss to understand why you’re uninterested in interviewing [Women For Scotland], who secured the Supreme Court victory and are therefore THE leading voices on this issue,” she added before turning her attention to Campbell’s daughter, who enraged the TERF movement last year by mocking Women For Scotland on her own podcast. “But perhaps your charming daughter has adequately represented the entire Campbell family’s view, by describing them as ‘ugly’ women, with whom she wouldn't ‘want to be in a room’?”
The quotes reiterated by Rowling came from an episode of Grace Campbell’s podcast, Late to the Party, where she interviewed trans activist and actress Charlie Craggs. While discussing last year’s ruling, the host refers to the women who picketed outside the Supreme Court building in support of the challenge — namely, Women for Scotland — as “freaks,” and specifically “ugly” freaks “with the worst hair and the worst clothes… and the worst views.”
Since then, things have heated up, with Rowling’s still-loyal fans flooding social media with criticisms of Campbell, who was also outspoken in his opposition to the Supreme Court decision when it was handed down, and his daughter. And the author herself certainly hasn’t risen above the fray, posting a particularly venomous message in response to the podcast host promoting an interview with Congresswoman Sarah McBride.
“What better way could there be of repudiating accusations of misogyny than recommending an episode where three men instead of two discuss which rights women should be fine giving up — without, of course, mentioning the words ‘women’s rights,’” Rowling wrote.
