Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the popular Harry Pottermovies, has become the latest actor with ties to the film franchise to affirm his support for transgender rights after incendiary comments about gender from author J.K. Rowling.
Rowling has been widely criticized for a series of tweets including one in which she mocked a website for using the phrase “people who menstruate,” suggesting that it should have used the word “women.” However, many transgender men and nonbinary people menstruate; many women do not.
She followed that up with a long essay in which she wrote, “When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman—and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones—then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.”
Her comments were condemned by many as transphobic.
“I firmly stand with the trans community,” Grint said in a statement, the BBC reports. “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment. I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers.”
Those peers include Daniel Radcliffe, who in an open letter wrote, “Transgender women are women…It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.”
Other actors associated with Rowling who have recently spoken out for trans rights include Eddie Redmayne and Emma Watson, both of whom appeared in movies based on books by Rowling.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
