JK Rowling, author of the beloved Harry Potter series, has been both accused of being a “witch” for promoting witchcraft by ultra-conservative groups and being a “witch” by the ultra-liberal queer camp.

Rowling, who created the Harry Potter series as a single mother, had Twitter abuzz for years. On Tuesday, JK Rowling pairs up with Megan Phelps-Roper for a podcast to discuss and defend her positions on social media:

It seems an unlikely combination of two minds, two profoundly different backgrounds coming together-much like we see any of JK Rowling’s books. Megan Phelps-Roper, daughter of Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas and JK Rowling. Phelps-Roper is no longer affiliated with Westboro, which still boasts a website with the URL godhatesfags.com. The podcast comes from The Free Press, the independent media company founded by Bari Weiss, a former op-ed writer for the New York Times.

One may remember Rowling’s Twitter banter with Westboro in 2015:

.@WBCsigns Alas, the sheer awesomeness of such a union in such a place would blow your tiny bigoted minds out of your thick sloping skulls.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2015

Rowling advocated for the LGBTQ community in one single Tweet. Rowling, herself, is far from a Conservative-right-wing-bigoted-white supremacist-Hitler-like-hateful-so-and-so, in fact. She was hardly a fan of former President, Donald Trump. So much so, she spun her own fiction, as our own VG, Kim, highlighted. But, alas, the sheer awesomeness that is JK Rowling was yet to be eaten alive and burned at the stake for another Tweet down the road:

‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?

Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020

Enter the Troglodytarum Alpinum, ready to pounce and attack. JK Rowling was basically challenging the English language and uttering what most of us were thinking: only women menstruate. That did not stop the Trolls:

This used to be a Hogwarts mug but not anymore because F**k JK Rowling and her anti-trans views and the anti-Semitism in the Wizarding World!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/1MfzVNL51b

— Nora Mermaid ‍♀️ (@Nora_Mermaid) February 17, 2023

They are breaking Hogwarts mugs. That’ll show her. Then, came this:

I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”-JK Rowling

Then came the TERF Wars:

But accusations of TERFery have been sufficient to intimidate many people, institutions and organisations I once admired, who’re cowering before the tactics of the playground. ‘They’ll call us transphobic!’ ‘They’ll say I hate trans people!’ What next, they’ll say you’ve got fleas? Speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible, according to the kind of people who argue that clownfish prove humans aren’t a dimorphic species).”-JK Rowling

JK Rowling is anti-trans because she made a statement about women and menstruation. Rowling said her life was shaped around being female. JK Rowling is a TERF! Hate speech. JK Rowling is the Nazi Queen, they say on Twitter! JK Rowling is responsible for all trans-teen suicides and murders in the world because she said only women get periods. (Insert a bunch of rage and expletives here.) Why, JK Rowling? Why did you have to ruin their childhood? They got trophies for everything until now!

Oh, why does Rowling have to ruin life for those perpetually in Fantasyland? The recent New York Times opinion piece, In Defense of JK Rowling, has sparked backlash.

This campaign against Rowling is as dangerous as it is absurd. The brutal stabbing of Salman Rushdie last summer is a forceful reminder of what can happen when writers are demonized. And in Rowling’s case, the characterization of her as a transphobe doesn’t square with her actual views.

So why would anyone accuse her of transphobia? Surely, Rowling must have played some part, you might think.

The answer is straightforward: Because she has asserted the right to spaces for biological women only, such as domestic abuse shelters and sex-segregated prisons. Because she has insisted that when it comes to determining a person’s legal gender status, self-declared gender identity is insufficient. Because she has expressed skepticism about phrases like “people who menstruate” in reference to biological women. Because she has defended herself and, far more important, supported others, including detransitioners and feminist scholars, who have come under attack from trans activists.”-Pamela Paul

Just days from the release of The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, trans author, Gretchen Felker-Martin alludes to slitting Rowling’s throat. Classy. The queer magazine, Them, highlights two open letters to the NYT editorial board citing “a concern for a lack of editorial standards with regards to coverage of trans issues”. It was a “slap in the face”, they said. The NYT is calling for “all out war” against trans people. Slate thinks Rowling is spinning fiction again when she makes statements about “intact males” in women’s locker rooms. And that “rapid onset gender dysphoria” has seized our youth. The commentary has already started. The stage has already been set.

Sometimes, when a group of people use a word with negative connotations to describe a prominent person, prompting others to distance themselves from her work or her views, it’s not bullying, or a witch hunt. It could just be a rational, sensible response.”-Christina Cauterucci, Slate

Because breaking Hogwarts mugs, shouting profanities and talking about slitting someone’s throat are rational and sensible responses? Because injecting kids with harmful hormones is “rational and sensible”? Because allowing predators under the guise of being “trans” in women’s restrooms and locker rooms is also “rational and sensible”? Because telling people that embracing their biological make up and being proud of being a woman (or a man, for that matter) is bullying behavior?

Anyone can speak Troll. All you have to do is point and grunt.”-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Trolls in the Bathroom (no pun intended but take it as you will) will be out in full-force and we will be here to cover. The Witch Trials of JK Rowling weekly series begins this Tuesday, February 21st and is available on your favorite podcast platform.

Photo Credit: Original Artwork by VG Darleen Click