Emma Watson is speaking out in support of the transgender community.
Over the weekend, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling published several tweets in response to an article that mentions “people who menstruate.” Rowling’s response included a call to use the word “woman,” prompting accusations of transphobia.
On Wednesday, Watson, who played a principal role in the Harry Potter films, spoke out on the matter in a series of tweets.
“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are,” the 30-year-old actress wrote.
“I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
She then encouraged fans to donate to feminist organizations that advocate for trans rights — Mama Cash and Mermaids — and wished everyone a Happy Pride Month.
She joins Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne, and Bonnie Wright in showing their support for the trans community.
Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in four of the Harry Potter films, tweeted from Los Angeles last night:
“If Harry Potter was a source of love and belonging for you, that love is infinite and there to take without judgment or question. Transwomen are Women. I see and love you, Bonnie x.”
On Wednesday, after days of online attacks, Rowling posted a lengthy essay on her website to explain her thinking.
READ MORE: J.K. Rowling Doubles Down and Defends Transphobic Comments In Epic Essay
“On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one. To use a very contemporary word, I was ‘triggered,’” she began.
Rowling then explained that she was “ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media,” and then spent “much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop.”
The writer added that she did not wish to “garner sympathy” with her sexual assault revelation, but rather to show “solidarity” with women who have similar histories, “who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.”
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