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J.K. Rowling likes tweet that supports conversion therapy

J.K. Rowling, The Ickabog, transphobia
J.K. Rowling Photo: Shutterstock

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling got caught liking a tweet that opposes Canada’s bill to ban conversion therapy.

If passed, Bill C-8 in Canada would create the world’s “most progressive and comprehensive” LGBTQ conversion therapy ban. The law would ban profiting from conversion therapy, ban family members from forcing children and adults into conversion therapy, and ban sending people out of the country for conversion therapy.

Related: “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling tweets profane transphobic message to 9-year-old fan

Earlier this week, a Canadian anti-transgender Twitter account called We The Females (WTF) tweeted its opposition to Bill C-8.

Tagging Rowling, the tweet said: “A big thank you from Canada where women’s rights to privacy were flushed down the toilet with Bill C16, & now Bill C8 will criminalize a therapist who counsels a child to accept the body they were born in. You have given us hope.”

Bill C-16 would ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression by adding those categories to the Canadian Human Rights Act.

WTF later thanked the uber-wealthy author for her support for conversion therapy, responding to a screenshot of her like.

WTF specified that they’re against Bill C-8 because it bans transgender conversion therapy, but that they oppose LGB conversion therapy.

They argued that transgender conversion therapy bans are different because they “criminalize those trying to help children find the root of their body dissociation and heal it,” even though that echoes the language of LGB conversion therapy, which is based on the idea that the root cause of homosexuality is child abuse, a bad relationship with a parent, or other childhood trauma and that therapy that emphasizes shame and brokenness can “heal” one’s identity.

Transgender conversion therapy, which can be administered by mental health professionals or religious leaders, attempts to force victims to change their gender identity so that they identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The practice is condemned by the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, which said that transgender conversion therapy lacks “success” and is “no longer considered ethical.”

Transgender conversion therapy has many of the same detrimental effects as LGB conversion therapy. A study of transgender conversion therapy survivors last year found that they were twice as likely to have attempted suicide as transgender people who didn’t go through conversion therapy. Survivors also reported higher levels of psychological distress.

“We believe that gender identity change efforts are dangerous for people of all ages,” said Dr. Jack Turban, one of the study’s authors. “The practice promotes shame and subsequent mental health problems. Ideal legislative efforts would ban all gender identity change efforts.”

Rowling has attacked the transgender community repeatedly over the past year, causing staff at her publishing agency to rebel against her new work. Actors from the Harry Potter film series have denounced her transphobia, and three authors have left the Blair Partnership, a literary agency that also represents Rowling, after it reportedly refused to affirm its support for trans equality.

Rowling tried defending her transphobia in a 3,700-word rambling essay. Her words have since been used to kill pro-transgender legislation in the United States.

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