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JK Rowling has condemned Butlin’s decision to suspend a security officer who has been accused of “violently” dragging five trans women from a single sex toilet.
The Harry Potter author, 59, has been met with strong backlash in recent years over her outspoken stance on trans women, which many LGBT+ spokespeople have deemed transphobic.
Rowling demanded the seaside resort chain provide a clear stance on women-only spaces. Butlin’s had issued an apology following the incident in Skegness and insisted that it was an “inclusive business”.
In a heavily divisive post, Rowling wrote on X/Twitter: “Does Butlins think the desire of cross-dressing men to enter women-only spaces is more important than women’s and girls’ right to privacy and dignity?
“Hopefully Butlins will explain their policy, so women and families can make an informed choice about where to go on holiday.”
The incident took place during the Bang Face Festival, which was hosted at the holiday camp on Saturday 5 October.
“This occurred at an adults-only rave music festival, and the response from the company happened three days ago,” pointed out one person on X/Twitter. “But go on Joanne, froth up some rage in your followers.”
Meanwhile, another person added: “I’m a cis woman who has zero issue sharing toilets with trans women who just want to widdle in peace like the rest of us.”
Jae Roberts, one of the transgender women who claims to have been forcibly removed by security, shared a post on Instagram explaining her version of events.
“Butlins security just dragged five trans people out of the women’s toilets. Got slammed against a wall and dragged downstairs for intervening,” she said.
Roberts alleged she and the other trans women were asked to leave the toilet by security, which sparked chants of “let them pee”. She then claimed guards had returned with “reinforcements”, who began to forcibly remove the trans women from the bathroom.
A spokesperson for Butlin’s said: “We were very concerned to hear about this incident. Much to our disappointment, our third-party security contractor did not follow our processes despite being thoroughly briefed.
“Once we were made aware they were immediately removed from duty for not handling the situation in line with our processes. We are in direct contact with those involved and are reviewing how we work with contractors.”
The company added the security guard’s suspension had nothing to do with the trans women’s gender identity but the manner in which they were allegedly removed from the toilet.
Rowling first made her stance on transgender women public in December 2019 when she tweeted in support of researcher Maya Forstater, whose job contract at a think-tank, Centre for Global Development, was not renewed due to a series of tweets she had made questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.
These initial remarks prompted backlash from fans of the author, who labelled Rowling a “terf” – an acronym that stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist – a term that Rowling has said she also takes issue with.
The author went on to post an essay on her website titled “Terf Wars” about gender identity ideology, in which she outlined five reasons to be “worried about the new trans activism”.
After Rowling’s essay was published, stars of the Harry Potter franchise, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, condemned her comments and distanced themselves from the author and her work.
In a statement shared with The Trevor Project, Radcliffe wrote: “Transgender women are women… Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”
Rowling has denied being transphobic, but has previously stated that she would rather go to jail than refer to a trans person by their preferred pronouns.
