I fight for the T in LGBT for a bunch of reasons: I have a trans niece whom I love. Trans women (esp trans women of color) were at the forefront of the gay rights movement. And because I heard these same exact rightwing arguments against gay men and women all through the 80s.
Right.
1) The covid vaccine was safe and effective
2) Literally 97% of LGB people support the T
3) Youth pastors, as a demographic, pose a greater pedophile threat to children than drag queens BY AN EXPONENTIAL DISTANCE
4) No one calls it X.
This stupid place, man.
Imagine being confronted with evidence from the Holocaust Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, but saying, 'No, listen to this anti-trans fanatic about the Holocaust instead!'
At the theatre tonight, i honestly MEANT to say, for the 2nd time, “Could you please keep it down.” What came out of my mouth was “Are you going to talk through the whole f*cking show?” Reader, a scene ensued.
Sandi Toksvig, Britain’s most high profile lesbian, comes out in support of trans rights. She is immediately viciously attacked by Julie Bindel, Helen Joyce, and a bunch of men explaining lesbianism to her. Anti trans activism is only about hate. Be more like Sandi.
I know how hard it must be for trans and non-binary young people out there watching all this. These are the dying voices of unhappy dinosaurs. The future is still yours. Live defiantly, live beautifully, live. It’s the best revenge of all.
On the day Brianna Ghey’s murderers are sentenced for their transphobic hate crime, JK Rowling tweets an attack on a lesbian author for daring to mock transphobia. Hatred just rots your brain to a teeny, bitter prune.
I'll say it again to trans kids: You are a blessing. I heard I was a sin all my life, straight people told me they knew my experience better than I did, and yet here I am, doing pretty goddamned well. Stay alive beauties. A defiantly beautiful life is the best revenge of all.
15 years ago, a prominent writer (who follows me, hi!) wrote a nice thing about Knife of Never Letting Go, so I inscribed a first edition hardback to him with much love. Fast forward to 2023, and a girl at a signing presented me with THAT VERY SAME BOOK from a used book store.
Possibly the most harrowing Pride Month of our lives coming up. Keep safe, of course, but - if you can - never been more important to be as loudly, gloriously, defiantly queer as possible.
And make sure our trans siblings are seated at every table.
“What is right is that parents know what is going on with their children at school"
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch discusses forthcoming guidance on trans pupils in schools
#BBCLauraK
To the transphobes losing their minds in the replies to this, I can only imagine how unsettling it must be to slowly be realizing you’ve massively backed the wrong crowd. It’s not too late. Come on back. The people are nicer and the comedy’s better.
Sandi Toksvig, Britain’s most high profile lesbian, comes out in support of trans rights. She is immediately viciously attacked by Julie Bindel, Helen Joyce, and a bunch of men explaining lesbianism to her. Anti trans activism is only about hate. Be more like Sandi.
The idea of Glinner as a “decent man” and “defender of gay men” - when he regularly calls me and other gay men who support trans people “c*nts” - is laughable/nauseating. Weird what people will do to get the approval of their tormentors.
Trans children will be trans regardless of law, political expedience, or mediocre politicians. You can either help lift them to their legitimate life or condemn them to one of solitude that they may not survive. This is an evil law, built on ignorance and personal ambitions.
Self-ID and social transition add up to a very dangerous ideology that can have terrible effects on young LGB children, who are being put on a medical pathway to irreversible physical changes.
We are not going to run away from this issue. We will sort it.
My 6th book was completely unexpected. From a spark by the brilliant Siobhan Dowd to the jaw dropping illustrations by Jim Kay (LOOK at that cover!), this was a book by all three of us. It won the Carnegie, and Jim the Kate Greenaway. A very important book in my heart.
Reminder to Japanese fans: Jpop star Shori Sato will of the magnificently named Sexy Zone stars in A Monster Calls next month onstage in Tokyo. I will actually be seeing a performance in person. Can’t wait!
Some of humanity’s dumbest have found my pinned tweet and are flinging homophobic and transphobic crap. So tweeting it again because, you know, fuck you.
I fight for the T in LGBT for a bunch of reasons: I have a trans niece whom I love. Trans women (esp trans women of color) were at the forefront of the gay rights movement. And because I heard these same exact rightwing arguments against gay men and women all through the 80s.
Am I angry? Yeah, I’m angry. We warned from the start about trans rights being a wedge issue. And here’s the wedge, come to smash us. Be prepared. You’re next.
“She has the right to have her dignity and gender identity respected.”
@RosieDuffield1
MP: “No.”
Imagine hating trans people so much you can’t let a story about rising water prices in your broken country pass by.
There’s a moral here. And it’s that I’m fine, stuff like this is funny, and I’m not mad at anyone. We’ll have a good laugh about it sometime, won’t we [name redacted]?
Surprised that this tweet has taken off. The person was clearly several glasses of Prosecco into their evening and did (eventually) apologize after considerable argy-bargy. I barely recognized myself in my adrenaline haze. The Cadbury caramels at the interval helped.
I’ve been writing and deleting a tweet all morning, but mainly I just want to say please hang in there to all the young trans people who follow me. The world WILL change. It will. Not fast enough, no, but survival is by far the best revenge. I know this firsthand. ❤️
Except of course no one is doing that. They’re objecting to you implying that all trans women are sex offenders. But you know that, so you’re trying to change the subject. And implying it again.
There's no difference between those who hushed up paedophile priests to protect the church and those trying to make it unsayable that some trans-identified men are sex offenders. Both prize an ideology more highly than acknowledging risk and preventing harm to women and children.
Transgender people have always existed and will always exist. I love the ones in my family, I love the ones in my friends circle, I love the ones who are my readers. My heart rages at the hate they face. But we’ll win. And that future can’t come fast enough.
Again (since you asked) I speak a lot for trans rights because 1) I have a trans niece who I love and want a safe world for, and 2) I saw this exact same hate and tactics (and wording) aimed at gay men and lesbians in the 80s.
Yesterday,
@jk_rowling
retweeted someone calling the trans stripes and the black and brown stripes (for queer people of color) on the Pride Flag “shit”. Keep that in mind when you choose to support her work.
What
@HJoyceGender
has to tweet a year on from the murder of Brianna Ghey. Coincidentally, it’s also what misogynists say about rape accusations from women.
This is a purely homophobic comment. What a surprise that just under the surface of a transphobe is yet more hate. Told you they wouldn’t stop with just the T.
Those "gay men meet their freshly-baked newborn for the first time" reels - no sight of the bleeding mother next door - are uncomfortably close to unboxing videos
My husband is correct. If my parents had been "informed" of my gayness in school, I may not have survived. That's not hyperbole. Protect queer kids. Protect trans kids. Sometimes - not always but sometimes - sadly, that means from the people who should protect them the most.
A reminder, that PARENTS are not necessarily safe to be informed of a child's struggles, they can sadly often be the LEAST safe person to be informed of those things. It is NOT wrong that Kids' Gender and Queerness be kept from parents, GOOD parents will be told by their Kids...
This is quite right,
@kewgardens
. You have the support of the vast majority of the LGBTQ+ community. Also interesting how the original “LGB” tweet calls trans issues “bumblesquat” but is happy to cry “queer is a slur”.
@ScottCJonesy
Hi Scott, we're aware that some people view the word as a slur, however, the term 'queer' has largely been reclaimed as a self-affirming and inclusive umbrella term for the diverse LGBTQ+ communities today. Our direction is to create an inclusive space for the whole community ❤
In all the unpleasantness here today (even I had to block an old friend) never forget how irritating LGBTQ+ joy is to those who hate us. Be a joyous middle finger to the world, you beauties. 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈💖
It's
#TransAwarenessWeek
so perhaps just be aware that trans women aren't a threat to cis women (and never were), that trans men exist (a lot of them, hi!), and that they're all part of this great human tapestry which enriches everyone of us.
Occasionally reminder why I tweet a lot about trans rights. Because first they came for transgender people, and I took up arms because I already know the rest of that poem.
I fight for the T in LGBT for a bunch of reasons: I have a trans niece whom I love. Trans women (esp trans women of color) were at the forefront of the gay rights movement. And because I heard these same exact rightwing arguments against gay men and women all through the 80s.
Regular reminder that the LGB Alliance doesn't speak for me or for the vast, VAST majority of gay people; has 93% heterosexual membership; is an anti-trans hate group; and is supported by literally no homosexual you would ever want to be stuck next to at a dinner party.
This was my third book, and my life changed. My first two hadn’t set the sales worlds afire, but
@WalkerBooksYA
took a chance and things got bewildering. I remain somewhat shell shocked and so grateful. Also no regrets, it’s how Manchee would’ve wanted to go.
As Rowling is trending for injunctions, I'd just mention this again, when she reposted an unambiguously transphobic tweet with "get this sh*it off our flag" about the trans, POC, and HIV stripes on the Pride Flag. If you don't want to tarnish your legacy, maybe don't do that.
Yesterday,
@jk_rowling
retweeted someone calling the trans stripes and the black and brown stripes (for queer people of color) on the Pride Flag “shit”. Keep that in mind when you choose to support her work.
Just a reminder that A Monster Calls is an inexpensive World Book Day costume. All you need is a school uniform, a rucksack, and overwhelming grief. Pretty much all my books work for that, really. What is wrong with me?
Only just considering how Gender Critical twitter transphobia is like anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers: purposeful ignorance of longstanding science, "my feelings must be facts", "I know better than every medical association", etc. The road leads only to QAnon.
Hey
@BBCNews
I won the Carnegie Medal for A Monster Calls, but I did NOT win the Kate Greenaway Medal for it. That was won by the genius illustrator Jim Kay. Further underlining the need for illustrators to get more recognition…
Same.
@allianceLGB
does not speak for me nor for any gay person I know and has, if possible, even strengthened for my support trans people. No LGB without the T. No to hate. And absolutely no to LGB Alliance.
Exactly. The number of times I've been called "homophobic" here by disingenuous straight folks. No one believes you. My experience is massive love for trans people in my community because we know life is all the richer for not being a blinkered twitter dickhead.
Gay men’s saunas? Oh give it a rest.
My life as a gay man has NEVER been impacted by trans men in any way.
On holiday we went to a gay men only party and there were trans men there living their best lives. Did anyone care? No. Why? Because we love our trans siblings.
I have a Literature degree and once wrote a show that employed a couple hundred people and contributed £10 million to the Welsh economy. Study what you want; Rishi studied “practical” subjects and seems not to know much at all.
Too many students are being sold a university education that won't get them a decent job at the end of it.
So I'm cracking down on rip-off degrees and boosting apprenticeships to ensure students get the best deal possible.
Widening access. Boosting jobs. Growing the economy.
Happy Pride Month! We’re here, we’re queer, and they still haven’t gotten used to it, despite all the nice things we’ve done for them. Like disco. And cracking the Enigma Code.
Live proudly. Their screams are never about you, only ever about them.
JK Rowling consecutively retweets an extreme right wing propagandist (look him up) and a right wing essay referring to trans issues as “gender insanity”.
If these are where you need to go to prove your point, then perhaps you’re not making the point you think you are.
EXCLUSIVE: The BBC has advised its news employees to avoid attending any Pride events that might be considered a protest, in a bid to maintain ‘impartiality’ on LGBTQ+ issues, in updated guidelines shared with staff 🧵 (1/9)
The replies to this are why Twitter is such a hellsite. Bad faith agents, right wing bots, sock puppets, all piling in. On. The. British. Library. Twitter magnifies those voices WILDLY out of proportion. All the more reason to be as defiantly out and proud as possible.
'Love demands expression. It will not stay still, stay silent, be good, be modest, be seen and not heard, no. It will break out in tongues of praise, the high note that smashes the glass and spills the liquid...'
— Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson
Wishing all a happy and…
The absolute bald-faced hypocrisy of this, from someone whose transphobia is premised entirely on the notion of “biological reality”. We said they wouldn’t stop at trans people. We said it over and over again…
My god, the fanaticism and inhumanity of this. She has been shown much evidence. Never really saw the path from transphobia to Holocaust denial, but turns out, it's a pretty short walk.
@Esqueer_
The thread has sources. Please show your evidence that trans-identifying people were persecuted, as distinct from gay people, who were indeed victims of heinous treatment by the Nazis.
The great Judy Blume: “[It’s] intolerance about everything, gender, sexuality, racism. It’s just reaching a point where again we have to fight back, we have to stand up and fight.”
The WI (the WI!) “loves, supports and celebrates” its transgender members. Proof yet again that anti-trans sentiment is a tiny, ugly minority whipped up by a rightwing delighted at its success in taking all the oxygen.
Retweeting, because the crazies have found it. So many people speaking authoritatively with no knowledge or experience whatsoever. Carry on. I’ll just be over here with the good guys, trying to keep your queer kids alive.
Trans children will be trans regardless of law, political expedience, or mediocre politicians. You can either help lift them to their legitimate life or condemn them to one of solitude that they may not survive. This is an evil law, built on ignorance and personal ambitions.
Good lord, I only rejoined Twitter 3 weeks ago, had TERFs saying it COULDN’T be me (bec how could a prominent children’s writer be AGAINST them?!?) so bought a tick (having lost my legacy one) learned it was poison, tried to cancel and now… it’s been a whirlwind, I tell you.
Solidarity to all the sweet, funny, creative, quite capable of making their own decisions young trans people who come to my events and are not one single thing like how they’re currently being portrayed.
Anyway, hi, thank you for reading my books and my nonsense tweets. And yeah, I'll always be a voice for my transgender siblings, so maybe go away if that's not your vibe, eh? No LBG without the T. Nope. Not now, not ever.
YouGov poll taken very recently shows how gaslighty Twitter is about trans people. Cisgender bi and lesbian women have an OVERWHELMINGLY positive view of trans people, as do ALL gay people and most straight people. Don’t be fooled by loud meanness and misinformation.
I really really like this point. Why do we put up with a flood of ghosted celebrity books? We don't accept ghosted art, ghosted sculpture, ghosted choreography, ghosted playwriting, etc, etc. Time for it to stop in books. Let the ghost get the credit, loud and clear.
With all the ghosted celebrity lit, it stuck me how funny we'd all view it if a celebrity decided to become a book illustrator, and got in a ghost to do the actual art. "Well, the idea for a unicorn with two horns, was actually mine ..."
My fifth book, my big big anti-war book. Used to be bigger: I cut an entire short novel length (50k) out of the first draft. Not named after the Icelandic group. Won me a Carnegie, which was super cool.
My occasional tweet to my trans and non-binary readers. You’re welcome in my books. And in every other decent writer’s that I know. These hateful dinosaurs will die out. The future is yours.
Hey, thanks again, guys, I mean it, but I’m really fine! And honestly, however foul it can occasionally be on here if you’re a trans ally, it’s a hundred times worse if you’re actually trans. I have a trans niece. I’m fighting for her and the better world that will come.
Interesting. Since I (reluctantly) blocked a friend of nearly 20 years, the transphobic pile-ons have all but ceased. Not that I’m complaining, but boy, kinda shitty to think that of, I guess, a now-former friend.
Have people who are complaining about Isaac Newton on Doctor Who ever noticed that we weren't invaded by evil Santa robots, had a female Labour prime minister, were enslaved by the Master, or a Queen who fought aliens?
My 8th book, and a personal favorite. My first book to get TikTokked, which was cool. Named after the Peter Gabriel song (not Roxy Music, definitely not One Direction). Tho it begins in the dark, I think it’s my most hopeful. And Tommy is my favorite ever character.
This was my fourth book, 2nd of the trilogy and very much my Empire Strikes Back: best book of the three, but least loved. Surely my darkest, harshest book. But I won the Costa for it, so that was nice.
I’ll say this every day if I have to (and it seems like I might), my trans readers are loved & welcomed &! valued, not just by me but most people, despite the best efforts of some to convince you otherwise.
This, from the Guardian review of Sex Education, is exactly like an 80s rightwing tabloid saying “Why couldn’t they show the positive side of conversion therapy?” about gay people. How little these people are willing to listen to actual trans experiences and lives.
So, anyway, won’t really be checking my responses (this place 🙄), but I hope my transgender readers know how much you’re loved and valued, not just by me, but by tons of us, no matter how much this place amplifies the bad faith arguments. Be well, stay alive. ❤️
I’m back here reluctantly as I am in despair over the raging anti-trans fervor certain billionaire authors are spouting. Don’t know how long I’ll last, but it felt impotent doing nothing.
The world is actually big enough. It really is. Antisemitism is a disease. Islamaphobia is a disease. Homophobia is a disease. Transphobia is a disease. The world is big enough. Others don’t have to be destroyed for you to exist.
A staggeringly good thread showing just precisely how transphobic activists use the exact same language homophobic ones did for decades. As we’ve been saying for years.
Oh Noes! Gays In The Locker Rooms! Whatever Shall We Do? (thread)
This thread will contain examples of how modern transphobia recycles homophobia from years past
The Daily Utah Chronicle 1998-04-06
We Must Consider Who Works the Locker Room
If your stated school policies are that "same-sex attraction must be resisted", don't even bother asking if you can stage a production of A Monster Calls. I have had enough of "respecting your beliefs" when they're actively harming your own pupils.
I do this occasionally, so ignore if you’ve seen before, but a reminder to my trans followers and readers, you are loved here and welcome. All this hate and misunderstanding WILL pass. Know you’ve got allies in the meantime. ❤️❤️
Anohni won the Mercury Prize. Wendy Carlos Williams scored Stanley Kubrick films. Jan Morris was shortlisted for the Booker and is widely considered one of Britain’s greatest ever travel writers…Honestly, maybe he’s just dumb.
'We shouldn't be bullied into believing people can be any sex they want to be, they can't. A man is a man and a woman is a woman', says Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
The staggering yet unsurprising hypocrisy of transphobes like Kathleen Stock who claim that all trans women are predators yet when an actual predator is accused by actual women, “let’s let the courts decide”. Shows exactly where they actually stand.
I only came back to Twitter to add a voice for trans rights, trans kids, and queer kids. It is seriously ugly here. But I met some gorgeous young trans readers today at LA Times Book Fest. That’s why I’m here. The future is theirs. Can’t wait to see what they make of it.
Love to all the writers, published and not yet, who follow me. It’s a weird old path to tread. But I never expected it to lead me here. So imagine what could be waiting for you? Write. And if you’re not feeling it? Write anyway.
Was going to tweet about writing and self-doubt, but really, I'm just so lucky. A paralytically anxious and terrified queer kid who could very easily have not survived, yet here I am. Persist, you non-conforming beauties. Living well is the best revenge.
I'll say it again to trans kids: You are a blessing. I heard I was a sin all my life, straight people told me they knew my experience better than I did, and yet here I am, doing pretty goddamned well. Stay alive beauties. A defiantly beautiful life is the best revenge of all.
Was very honored to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
@RSLiterature
tonight. Inducted by President Bernardine Evaristo, alongside some lovely Ya folks too, like
@LawrencePatrice
@Kiran_MH
and the legendary Beverly Naidoo.
Just had a talk with the cat. Topics included whether she was my little baby, and if she was, in fact, the best at that out of all the little babies in the world. Answers were all affirmative.
Woman on plane yesterday re: two year old boy: “He’s making eyes at all the ladies.”
The boy’s granddad: “Yeah, he’s a real ladykiller!”
Why are straight people such groomers?