JK Rowling has said the “police are going to be very busy” amid accusations she misgendered a broadcaster.
In an interview with Byline TV, India Willoughby, 58, a trans woman and broadcaster, told journalist Caolan Robertson that she had reported the Harry Potter author to the police for calling her a man.
Following the release of the filmed interview, Rowling, 58, said that Willoughby appeared to have forgotten the Forstater ruling, which “established that gender critical views can be protected in law”.
On Sunday, the Harry Potter writer posted a criticism of trans women being allowed into women’s changing rooms on X and in the thread she spoke about Willoughby and said: “India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.”
In the interview with Byline TV, Willoughby said of the posts: “JK Rowling has definitely committed a crime.
“I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman and she calls me a man.
“It’s a protected characteristic.
“And that is a breach of both the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act.
“She’s tweeted that out to 14 million followers.”
“And the equivalent of what JK Rowling said, calling a trans person a man deliberately… I am legally recognised as a woman and for JK Rowling to deliberately, and that is the key word, misgender me knowing who I am is grossly offensive.
“It is a hate crime and it should be treated just as somebody calling a black person the N-word or an Asian person the P-word.”
Rowling has claimed she was advised previously that she had a legal case against Willoughby for defamation and added that there is no law compelling her to refer to the TV personality as a woman.
Source: JK Rowling responds after being reported to police over misgendering broadcaster