Can You Still Watch Harry Potter and Support Trans Rights? I Think So.

I grew up on Harry Potter, I support trans rights, and I’m struggling with the HBO boycott debate — here’s where I landed.

I was 6 years old when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone first released in the US. I was an advanced reader, and if I remember correctly I got the book on my 7th birthday the next year, just after starting first grade. It was the first book I remember reading and retaining the information from. It was a magical (no pun intended) moment.

These were the books that made me a reader, re-reading each one as I eagerly waited for the subsequent entry in the series. The first movie released on November 16, 2001, just six days after my 9th birthday. I had my party at the movie theater with my friends that weekend. I played the video games for hours on end. I had all of the merchandise. Hell, for a few years in elementary school I wore glasses and had my own Harry Potter look going. In high school, I was at the midnight premieres for the final films. I was all the way in, the way only a kid can be all the way in on something. That was over 25 years ago, and this world has never fully left me.

So I want to have an honest conversation about something a lot of people are struggling with right now — because I don’t think most of what people are seeing on the Internet within the vocal minority (on both sides) is a true representation of the general public.

Let me be clear about where I stand first: I am pro-trans. I have all the love in the world for the LGBTQ community. What JK Rowling is doing — using her platform and her wealth to actively lobby against the rights of trans people — is wrong. I’m not here to minimize that or explain it away. She has openly used money from the Harry Potter franchise to fund efforts aimed at restricting transgender rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected spaces. That causes real harm to those communities and I’m not dismissing that for a second.

But I’m also not going to pretend that Harry Potter is one person.

You have to think about who actually built this thing. The original golden trio — Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint — have been among the most outspoken allies of the trans community throughout all of this. Despite backlash from the stars of the film adaptation, Rowling has continued to double down and trash the cast who blew this franchise up to massive proportions. That tells you everything you need to know about whose side those actors are on.

But you can’t forget about the makeup artists, the costume designers, the creature workshop artists, the visual effects teams, the writers, and the composers. There are the hardworking people who put Cursed Child on Broadway. The publishers at Scholastic who put these books in the hands of millions of kids like me. The cast members at Universal and crew who build Harry Potter attractions. And now, the cast and crew of the HBO series — including Nick Frost, who plays Hagrid and has said Rowling’s views don’t align with his “in any way, shape or form,” and Paapa Essiedu, who plays Snape and signed an open letter expressing solidarity with trans and non-binary people.

These are the artists and hard working people who are being supported by the movies, books, plays, shows, and theme parks. There is a whole economy behind this franchise, and although its extremely unfortunate what the creator spends her time on, I support everyone else.

Andrew Garfield said something recently that I keep coming back to. He admitted he’d only just watched the Harry Potter films for the first time while also acknowledging the controversy directly and agreeing that it was terrible. But then he said this about his friend Daniel Radcliffe and the films that made him famous":

“Daniel is so goddamn good…And honestly, I hadn’t watched [the Harry Potter films] until recently. He’s really good in those Harry Potter movies. Those Harry Potter movies are really good. I really liked them. I know we shouldn’t be putting money in the pocket of inhumane legislation right now through She Who Shall Remain Nameless, but the soul and spirit of those films … the kids are so good … and all the artisans — I’m working with a wonderful makeup artist right now, Clare [Le Vesconte] who was working in the creature workshop [on the films]. And I’m like, oh man, we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, there are so many beautiful artists who worked on those films.”

John Lithgow, who plays Dumbledore in the HBO series, said he nearly quit due to the backlash — but ultimately stayed because he felt the books themselves stood against the very intolerance Rowling now represents. I agree — the books gave me confidence, built a moral compass for a young 7 year old, taught me about courage and the dangers of evil in power, and stand for so much more than their creator’s current ideas.

So here’s my genuine question for anyone who says they won’t watch a frame of Harry Potter or spend a dime connected to it:

Are you bringing that same energy everywhere?

If you are, then you need to cancel HBO entirely. You need to call on the original cast to give back their (surely substantial) earnings from the films. You need to stop buying books from Scholastic. You can’t go see another Broadway production. Throw out your DVDs. Throw out the books you already own. If the argument is that any dollar touching this IP eventually benefits Rowling, then the circle of complicity is enormous. The only truly consistent position is to go scorched earth. And I want to be clear: I respect anyone who genuinely goes there.

But most people won’t. And I don’t think that makes them bad people or bad allies. I think it makes them human. The world is not black and white, and neither is this controversy and the decisions that people make.

Here’s the thing about boycotts that online “activists” don’t talk about: they’re blunt instruments. Some Potter fans have grown skeptical of how effective a boycott could even be, noting that there’s a question of how much more influence Rowling could possibly have at this point. She is, by any measure, one of the wealthiest people on earth. She has the money, the influence, and the platform already. A boycott doesn’t meaningfully move the needle on any of that — but it does hurt the grip department who worked 80-hour weeks on set for the HBO show, and the Broadway stagehands, and the costume designers, all the way down to the employees working the Butter Beer stands at Universal.

So what actually moves the needle? Voting. Donating directly to trans advocacy organizations. Show up for the people in your life who are affected by this. Support the politicians who will fight for human rights. JK Rowling is powerless if the government doesn’t support her efforts, or we have a Supreme Court that rules on the right side of history. That’s where your effort can change something real.

I’ll be honest with you about where I am personally. I want to watch the show, and I am still upset about what Rowling stands for. It is so exciting to see each book get adapted into a longer form season of television, where characters and storylines can fully develop in a way that a movie can not. I will read the books with my kids some day. We will watch the movies. It is a huge part of me and my life, and I am not going to let one awful woman take that away from me.

If you don’t agree and want to go scorched earth, then all the power to you. I respect what you are doing. And I would hope that you also respect others views on this the same. The creator is not equal to the creation they put into the world, and I am opting to find all the positive that a franchise of this level can bring instead of thinking about the one witch behind it all.