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Emma Watson, Eddie Redmayne, Paapa Essiedu sign open letter in denouncing April 17 Supreme Court Ruling

Actor Paapa Essiedu may be set to star as Severus Snape in the upcoming Harry Potter television series, but that doesn’t mean he sides with JK Rowling when it comes to her anti-trans views.

The 34-year-old British actor is one of 400 TV and film professionals who have signed an open letter expressing their solidarity with the trans community in the wake of the UK Supreme Court’s April 17 ruling that defined women based on biological sex, excluding trans women.

The ruling, which is predicted to have broad-reaching implications for the trans and non-binary community and was financially backed by Rowling, “undermines the lived reality and threatens the safety of trans, non-binary and intersex people living in the UK,” the open letter reads.

Essiedu isn’t the only star of the Harry Potter franchise to sign the letter. Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne and Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the original Harry Potter films, have both spoken out against Rowling in the past and signed the letter. The letter was developed by development producer Sid Strickland of Motive Pictures and script editor Jack Casey after the ruling came out and it became clear that it would exclude trans people from single-sex facilities, including industry sets and movie theaters, Deadline reports.

“The UK film and television industry is at the forefront of cultural change. In recent years, we have come together in response to the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements, to reflect upon our working practices and uplift a broad spectrum of voices in our society,” the letter said.

“We must now urgently work to ensure that our trans, non-binary and intersex colleagues, collaborators and audiences are protected from discrimination and harassment in all areas of the industry, whether on set, in a production office or at a cinema.”

Essiedu signed his name to the letter despite starring in HBO’s upcoming TV adaptation of Rowling’s Harry Potter series, and Rowling’s financial support of the anti-trans policy and her celebrity social media posts once the Supreme Court ruled in her favor.

The letter was also signed by nonbinary The Last of Us Star Bella Ramsey and Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan, who recently raised £120,000 for the trans rights charity Not a Phase, and Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne, who has spoken out against Rowling’s anti-trans views in the past.

And even more Harry Potter stars signed their names, too. Trevor White, who played Harry Potter in the Canadian premiere of the stage production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child signed alongside Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince actress Bessie Carter (who is also Professor Umbridge actress Imelda Staunton’s daughter), younger Lily Potter actress Amy Forest, Harry Potter series actress Ayoola Smart, and Eleanor Matsuura, who appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 as a character named "Yaxley’s Henchwoman" were also signatories.

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by Anonymousreply 25May 5, 2025 11:30 AM

The letter

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by Anonymousreply 1May 2, 2025 5:17 AM

Why denounce the Supreme Court for simply clarifying what the law says? Campaign and find the votes to change the legislation to make it inclusive of trans people. And if you can't find those votes because the majority of the population is against you, then tough luck.

As for wanting the courts to save them – the older I get, the less fond I am of legislating from the bench, even when the verdicts go our way. Both Roe and Obergefell were a mistake, and they led us to where we are now. Every judicial "win" like that seems to come with a terrible price decades down the line.

by Anonymousreply 2May 2, 2025 5:29 AM

The interesting thing is how few “names” are signatories. There are a few earnest activist types like Nicole Coughlan and Ken Loach. The expected NB/queer Zillenials. A few B-List men like Joe Alwyn and James D’Arcy. Then, uh, Neve Campbell.

The actors are primarily of the ilk who have 3 episodes of Hollyoaks/2 episodes of Doctor Who/1 episode the Sister Boniface Mysteries to their credit.

by Anonymousreply 3May 2, 2025 5:31 AM

They are forced to sign under threat of being cancelled if they refuse to comply.

by Anonymousreply 4May 2, 2025 5:36 AM

Why do continually drag intersex people into this? For one that community prefers to refer to their conditions as a DSD differences in sex development. Their conditions are sex specific and they are not in between or non binary:

by Anonymousreply 5May 2, 2025 5:37 AM

UK Supreme Court got it right.

by Anonymousreply 6May 2, 2025 5:52 AM

Fuck my legacy!

by Anonymousreply 7May 2, 2025 6:02 AM

Fuck my stinkditch!

by Anonymousreply 8May 2, 2025 6:03 AM

Are these idiots demanding that the Supreme Court reverses its ruling and declare that the term "woman" as used in the Equality Act be considered to mean not just females but also males who "identify as" women? I doubt such a law exists anywhere in the world.

by Anonymousreply 9May 2, 2025 8:13 PM

Why in the world is this such a big deal? A chick with a dick ain’t a chick. Watching people argue about this in circles really is bizarre, even for 2025.

by Anonymousreply 10May 2, 2025 8:15 PM

Rowling’s pro-women views OP. She doesn’t have anti-trans views and despite this wearying accusation being made time and time again you will find no evidence to support your position. Not sure what the people sending the letter are actually on about. The law has been clarified by the Supreme Court not made by the SC.

by Anonymousreply 11May 2, 2025 9:30 PM

"Non-binary" is made up bullshit.

by Anonymousreply 12May 2, 2025 9:44 PM

*YAWN*

by Anonymousreply 13May 3, 2025 12:32 AM

Emma Twatson

by Anonymousreply 14May 3, 2025 12:34 AM

A twat is something no transwoman will ever have, r14.

by Anonymousreply 15May 3, 2025 10:11 AM

Protect the Dolls!

‘Protect the Dolls’ T-shirt becomes a fashion symbol for trans rights

Celebrities including Pedro Pascal are wearing the design as they embrace its message in support of trans women

When the designer Conner Ives took his bow after his London fashion week show this February, he wore a T-shirt that proclaimed “Protect the Dolls”. Two months later, the design – and its message supporting trans women, who are affectionately called “dolls” in the LGBTQ+ community – has become ever more popular.

The singer Troye Sivan wore it to perform at Coachella, and the actor Pedro Pascal wore it for the London premiere of the film Thunderbolts, just days after the supreme court ruled that when the Equality Act referred to women, it only meant biological sex and did not include transgender women.

Ives initially saw the T-shirt as a one-off statement, but demand changed that. On sale on his website for £75, about 5,000 orders have been placed in the last month. With proceeds going to the American organisation Trans Lifeline, as of Thursday evening Ives estimated it had raised about £380,000, with “that figure going up by the hour”.

The designer, an American based in London, says the T-shirt was a response to anti-trans policies put in place by Donald Trump, and in support of trans friends including the model Hunter Pifer. Even he has been surprised by how popular it is. “I never had that intention when I was doing it,” he says. “I was just like ‘this is what I want to say. This is what feels right’ and it turned into something else.”

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by Anonymousreply 16May 3, 2025 10:16 AM

If you hashtag “protect the dolls” on X you get some interesting results

by Anonymousreply 17May 3, 2025 4:35 PM

R16, trans rights activists have no argument beyond a simplistic t-shirt slogan. They could never explain in coherent terms just why biological males should legally be considered women, why lesbians have to make themselves sexually available to men or why male rapists should be housed in women's prisons. That's why they try to shut down any debate, because deep down they know they're incapable of debating.

by Anonymousreply 18May 3, 2025 7:10 PM

By all means, protect those dolls, Pedro, but please leave actual women out of it. Cheers.

by Anonymousreply 19May 3, 2025 7:15 PM

Yawn. These misogynists are exhausting.

by Anonymousreply 20May 3, 2025 7:38 PM

Many of the trans themselves actually dislike the apparently affectionate term "dolls":

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by Anonymousreply 21May 3, 2025 7:59 PM

What I find most interesting about this isn't the celebrities signing a letter that clearly gets the law wrong, but who is considered worthy of getting their name put at the top of the list and who isn't.

Emmas Watson, D'arcy and Corrin (all very posh girls) didn't sign it when first released but their names get pushed to the top but less famous actors like Callum Scott Howells and Ambika Mod are placed lower. Actual trans actors like Annie Wallace and Rebecca Root are clearly 4th tier actors.

by Anonymousreply 22May 5, 2025 10:12 AM

Yeah, it's hilarious how they arranged the signatories so that the "famous" ones are at the top and the unknowns underneath, regardless of alphabetical order or date of signing.

It just goes to show that this is a media campaign to cast aspersions of "transphobia" at the Supreme Court and also try to get some bad publicity for JK Rowling (although, this kind of thing only ever puts her in a better light). It's not a sincere attempt to put forward arguments as to why the Supreme Court ruling should be reversed or why the Equality Act should include biological men in the category of women.

The only argument they put forward in that letter is:

[quote]The Supreme Court’s ruling that, under the Equality Act, ‘woman’ is defined by biological sex, states that “the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man”. We believe the ruling undermines the lived reality and threatens the safety of trans, non-binary, and intersex people living in the UK.

Aside from the fact that they deliberately overlook the assertion that sex is binary (because they know they can't argue against it) they also never bother to explain what "the lived reality" of trans people is. Is a transwoman really living the life of a biological woman, or a transman the life of a biological man? I doubt it very much. Let me know when a transwoman's "reality" includes having a period or a transman's lived reality includes having a penis. Nor do they explain why the ruling puts trans people's safety at risk, while also sidestepping the opportunity to argue against the "other side's" argument that including biological men in the category of women puts women at risk - because they know they can't argue against that. They also follow the usual trans activist tactic of mishmashing different groups (trans, non-binary, and intersex). Do non-binary people or males with a disorders of sex development want to be legally included in the category of women? How is their "lived reality" impacted by this ruling?

The trans rights activists have never bothered with putting forward clear and reasonable legal demands, building organisations to promote these demands, working hard to establish a workable legal framework, to lobby politicians, etc. All they know is smearing, shaming, pressuring, tantrums, piggybacking on the organisations other groups (especially gays) have worked hard to build up.

by Anonymousreply 23May 5, 2025 10:44 AM

I agree R23.

The Supreme Court has ruled what the laws says, not what the law should be or what politicians who voted for it really intended for it to mean. What comes next is arguing how the law should be changed, and Stonewall's insistence on No Debate mean it's back to the drawing board as far as efforts to change the law goes. That means going into TV studios and sitting down with people who disagree with them and not talking about ideology but how the law will work.

But as Nicola Sturgeon found out, if you genuinely believe trans women are women and no safeguards are needed to protect women from men abusing the system, then have the balls to say trans women are women even if they're convicted rapists. Sturgeon refusing to use pronouns and simply calling Adam Graham/Isla Bryson a rapist was completely humiliating for her. Calling people racist or far right because they're laughing at you won't cut it any more.

I'd like to think trans people/politicians who support self ID will group and organise and coordinate a response and plan a legal change, but there is a such a sense of entitlement there will just more more videos of people crying in their cars.

by Anonymousreply 24May 5, 2025 11:13 AM

[quote]Sturgeon refusing to use pronouns and simply calling Adam Graham/Isla Bryson a rapist was completely humiliating for her.

It also means it's implicitly understood that "trans women are women UNLESS" (that is, unless they misbehave/break the law/abuse their rights, etc.). That makes the whole system untenable, because if Adam Bryson or Barbie Kardashian are treated differently from female prisoners on account of their actions, the public understands that being perceived as a woman is a privilege that is conditional and can be removed at any time.

Beyond that, there are few things politicians hate more than losing credibility and being humiliated, and they have certainly taken note of what happened to Nicola Sturgeon.

by Anonymousreply 25May 5, 2025 11:30 AM
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