December 18, 2020 at 9:00 am by Katie Caracciolo
This September, I embarked on one of the final rites of passage of my young adulthood: the last âHarry Potterâ movie marathon of my life. For reasons that will soon become evident, I streamed the films illegally and sat with feelings of mixed discomfort and nostalgia as the adventures of The Boy Who Lived unfolded on screen.Â
Several months ago, infamous âHarry Potterâ author J.K. Rowling published a transphobic tirade to her Twitter account, the hateful text of which I will link but dare not repeat here. Suffice to say that millions of readers worldwide, including myself, took to social media to condemn Rowlingâs words and express their deep hurt, especially considering the seriesâ surface messages of inclusion, acceptance and the power of friendship. As Twitter user @notafootstool puts it, âI grew up as a trans child reading your books as an escape. I would often pick out names from c