Controversial author JK Rowling continued to misgender India Willoughby after the latter reported the Harry Potter star to the police for misgendering her.
Earlier this week, Rowling said Willoughby was "cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is" while ranting about trans women using female locker rooms. In several tweet responses, Rowling called Willoughby 'a man' and used the incorrect pronouns.
Willoughby saw the vile rant and tweeted: "Genuinely disgusted by this. Grotesque transphobia, which is upsetting. I am every bit as much a woman as JK Rowling. Recognised in law, and by everyone I interact with every day. The debate about whether JK Rowling is a transphobe is over."
Several days later, Willoughby sat down for an interview with Byline TV and revealed to journalist Caolan Robertson that she had reported the Harry Potter author to Northumbria Constabulary for calling her a man several times. In the chat, the broadcaster said: "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 Equalities Act and the Gender Recognition Act." She went on to discuss the 'disgusting' and 'putrid' comments from Rowling's fans.
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JK Rowling misgendered India Willoughby in recent tweets (PA)
India revealed she reported the author to the police (GC Images)"I don’t know if that’s going to be treated as a hate crime, malicious communications, but it’s a cut-and-dry offence as far as I’m concerned. And at the end of the day, it is a hate crime," she said. "Transgender identity is a protected characteristic, just as race is, just as sexuality is. I have reported JK Rowling to the police for what she said.
"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."
Willoughby contacting the police didn't stop Rowling from continuing her offensive rants. After listening to the interview, Rowling said that Willoughby appeared to have forgotten the Forstater ruling, which “established that gender critical views can be protected in law”.
Maya Forstater successfully brought a case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) to establish that gender-critical views are a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010 in 2021. Rowling later reposted a clip of Robertson in which he said he had contacted the author for an interview as well, but 'only India replied.'
JK Rowling was reportedly contacted for the interview but only India respondedShe accused the journalist of calling Willoughby 'him' twice in the video, despite Robertson using 'them' and the captions also using 'them'. Rowling said: "Extraordinary. India’s interviewer calls India ‘him’ twice. The police are going to be very busy."
Under the Equality Act 2010, a person cannot discriminate against another because of a protected characteristic, such as gender reassignment. The police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have both agreed the definition for identifying hate crimes includes a criminal offence that is perceived by the victim, or another, to be “motivated by hostility or prejudice,” based on a person’s “transgender identity or perceived transgender identity.”
In her tweets from Wednesday night, Rowling continued: "Some time ago, lawyers advised me that not only did I have a clearly winnable case against India Willoughby for defamation, but that India’s obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment. I ignored this advice because I couldn’t be bothered giving India the publicity he so clearly craves.
“Nevertheless, we must all do our bit to combat hate, so India will be glad to know I’ve taken note of his homophobia, racism and humane stance on immigration. Nor have I forgotten India’s shocking transphobia. It appears to have slipped what passes for India’s mind that he’s previously called a fellow trans woman a man on this very site.
“Surprisingly for such an eminent legal authority, he appears to have forgotten that the Forstater ruling established that gender-critical views can be protected in law as a philosophical belief. No law compels anyone to pretend to believe that India is a woman. Aware as I am that it’s an offence to lie to law enforcement, I’ll simply have to explain to the police that, in my view, India is a classic example of the male narcissist who lives in a state of perpetual rage that he can’t compel women to take him at his own valuation.”
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