J.K. Rowling celebrated after the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled Wednesday that transgender women are not legally women.
“It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK,” the “Harry Potter” author, 59, wrote via X.
“@ForWomenScot, I’m so proud to know you.”
Rowling added in another post that she “definitely has” given money to the For Women Scotland organization, which has been “working to protect and strengthen women and children’s rights.”
She also “toasted to” the women of the group and uploaded a photo of two glasses of champagne before announcing, “Think I might be having a cigar later.”
Rowling later argued, “The Supreme Court upheld the rights of women and gay people today.”
However, a trans woman called the “extreme” ruling an “injustice,” elaborating that the court “had a hearing about what rights, what freedoms, what future trans people have… without a single trans person being involved, yet multiple with hate groups.”
She added, “They decided we don’t deserve equality.”
Rowling retorted, “The court clarified that UK women have sex-based rights. You and your fellow activists’ meltdowns are laying bare what has been obvious to a lot of us for years: when you say ‘equality’ you mean ‘women have no right, under any circumstances, to draw boundaries that exclude men.’”
According to the author, the “winners” of the ruling include “women and girls, including trans-identified women (continue to benefit from maternity rights etc), gay people, freedom of speech, freedom of association [and] those at risk of discrimination for a belief in the material reality of sex.”
The court’s five judges agreed in the landmark decision that “the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’” under the UK’s 2010 Equality Act “refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” Justice Patrick Hodge said.
The ruling “does not remove protection from trans people,” who are “protected from discrimination on the ground of gender reassignment,” the court confirmed — but a transgender person with documentation recognizing them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.
Rowling has a long history of anti-trans views and even once proclaimed that she would “happily” go to prison for her beliefs.