Los Angeles Times

Commentary: Here’s an idea: Maybe if we all stop talking about J.K. Rowling, she’ll just go away

J.K. Rowling arrives at the "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" world premiere at The Royal Festival Hall on March 29, 2022, in London.

Novelist J.K. Rowling is back in the news where, apparently, she longs to be. Never has a person who once claimed to have been “canceled” been allowed so much time, attention and diversity of platforms to continue her side-gig as a quasi-political commentator.

Her goal: to protect women from having their gender hijacked by those not born with a uterus while preventing predatory men from claiming to be transgender in order to invade female “safe spaces” and girls from being brainwashed into believing they are trans.

There have been tweets, there have been essays and now, there is a podcast, called “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling.” The title is certainly a suggestive, if not definitive, indication of whose side host and creator Megan Phelps-Roper is on.

Phelps-Roper, who has written extensively about her experience in, and eventual escape from, the wildly homophobic and generally hateful Westboro Baptist Church, claims that when interviewing people on all sides of the Rowling conflict, she was struck by how everyone

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times10 min read
Ben Gibbard On That Glow-up Of A Haircut And His Love-hate Relationship With LA
LOS ANGELES — Twenty-one years ago, Ben Gibbard's life changed twice in the span of eight months. In February 2003, the frontman of Seattle's Death Cab for Cutie released "Give Up," the first (and only) album by his electro-pop side project the Posta
Los Angeles Times5 min readDiscrimination & Race Relations
Doctors Saw Younger Men Seeking Vasectomies After Roe V. Wade Was Overturned
Kori Thompson had long wrestled with the idea of having a child. The 24-year-old worried about the world a kid would face as climate change overtook the globe, fearing the environmental devastation and economic strain that could follow. He had been t
Los Angeles Times3 min readAmerican Government
Sen. Bernie Sanders Endorses 2 California Ballot Measures, Including Rent Control Expansion
LOS ANGELES — Sen. Bernie Sanders, who remains popular in California after winning the state's 2020 Democratic presidential primary, on Wednesday announced he is throwing his support behind two ballot measures related to rent control and restrictions

Related Books & Audiobooks