JK Rowling calls Nicola Sturgeon a ‘destroyer of women’s rights’

JK Rowling has called Nicola Sturgeon a "destroyer of women's rights" amid a row over her plans to allow people to self-identify their legal gender.

Proposals which would allow children as young as 16 to apply to legally change their gender without a medical diagnosis were given a green light by MSPs on Thursday, prompting outrage from campaigners.

The Harry Potter author took to Twitter on Thursday to give her support to hundreds of protesters, many from the campaign group For Women Scotland, who gathered outside Holyrood to protest against the reforms.

Ms Rowling posted a photo of herself wearing a black t-shirt which read "Nicola Sturgeon - noun - destroyer of human rights".

She accompanied the post with the caption: "I stand in solidarity with For Women Scotland and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish parliament."

For Women Scotland say they believe “that there are only two sexes, that a person’s sex is not a choice, nor can it be changed.”

The Scottish Government on Thursday announced a cross-party committee of SNP, Scottish Labour and Scottish Green MSPs had backed the Bill despite their own survey finding nearly 60 per cent of Scots opposed the legislation.

Ms Rowling has frequently criticised the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill since it was first unveiled in March this year.

A week after it was tabled, Ms Rowling wrote on Twitter: "The law Nicola Sturgeon is trying to pass in Scotland will harm the most vulnerable women in society - those seeking help after male violence/ rape and incarcerated women.

"Statistics show that imprisoned women are already far more likely to have been previously abused."

Rejecting Ms Rowling's claims, the First Minister told BBC Radio 4 at the time the author was "clearly free to express her opinion" but "that's not what this debate is about".

Ms Rowling's latest criticism of the SNP leader comes shortly after she appeared to criticise a number of celebrities, including Emma Watson, for helping the trans charity Mermaids gain "unprecedented influence".

She had made the remarks after it emerged Dr Jacob Breslow, one of the charity's trustees, spoke at a conference hosted by an organisation that promotes services for paedophiles who need professional help.

Dr Breslow’s presentation appeared to be a critique of how paedophiles were understood.

On Twitter, Ms Rowling said "Mermaids appointed a paedophile apologist as a trustee" and that their online moderator "encouraged kids to move onto a platform notorious for sexual exploitation."

“They couldn’t have achieved it without the money and public support of certain corporations and celebrities, who eagerly boosted them even though the red flags have been there for years," she added.

Celebrities who have publicly backed Mermaids in the past include the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry Potter star Emma Watson and Jameela Jamil.

In 2020, Watson posted on Twitter announcing she had donated to Mermaids and encouraged others to do the same.

Dr Breslow, who quit his role on Monday night, was a graduate student in gender research at the London School of Economics when he gave a presentation at an event for the US-based B4U-ACT in 2011.

According to its website, B4U-ACT promotes services and resources “for self-identified individuals… who are sexually attracted to children and desire such assistance”.

Dr Breslow’s presentation was titled Sexual Alignment: Critiquing Sexual Orientation, The Pedophile, and the DSM V.

A brief extract of the presentation, still available online, said: “This paper works through the DSM’s struggle to understand ‘the pedophile’ through an investigation of the highly questionable and deeply assumptive clinical, empirical and theoretical studies it cites.”

Mermaids, which has been hit with a wave of allegations in recent months, told the Times it was unaware of his appearance at the 2011 conference.