I almost stopped when I read the highlighted comment. You start off on the wrong foot. Biological sex encompasses both the brain and observable sex characteristics. People are trans because their brains match the gender with which they identify, not their equipment. Our sense of identity and self-awareness resides in our brains, not our genitals. Trans women are women. They are not different from ciswomen or a different class of women. When will the gender critical people get this? And then you go on to say that J. K. Rowling should not be canceled because of her opinion, she has a right to it. Really? As a public figure what she says has a great deal of influence on millions of other people. When she expresses an opinion, too many will uncritically adopt it as their own. She is doing very real harm and deserves to be pushed back against. She is wrong and you are as well.

By the way, I am a passable postop trans woman. I regularly walk into women’s spaces including gym dressing rooms and no one pays any attention to me. Unclothed I look the same as any other woman. When I first started transitioning, my intent was to keep my head down, complete the process, and live my life in stealth. I wanted no part of the gender wars. The problem is that there are too many bigots out there writing hateful misinformed opinions. Many of them operate under the guise of being “accepting” of trans women when they really are not. Bigotry is bigotry no matter how it is dressed up.

I have no problem with those who misunderstand the nature of trans people because of their ignorance of the science. Someone can hardly be criticized for being uninformed. I frequently engage in education of the people I meet both in my writing and in discussions with those I encounter on the street. For the most part I have run into very little bigotry in my day-to-day life. I either have been fortunate or come across as someone who is non-threatening. But my heart weeps for those women who do not have the advantages I did and who regularly struggle with people’s hurtful comments and criticism. One of the ways to cut a trans person to the quick is to misgender them or call them by their dead name. You cannot believe how much that hurts. It literally can put you into a bout of depression for days. There is a reason that over half of all trans people contemplate suicide during their lives and a little less than half actually attempt it. It is not due to their hatred of themselves so much is it is due to the unrelenting rejection by society. You cannot imagine how awful it is to walk around constantly being criticized by people who think they are spouting truth when in fact it is bigoted nonsense. Educate yourself. Maybe a lightbulb will go off.