"Strength is found in diversity"— Daniel Radcliffe brings up Harry Potter in response to J.K. Rowling's stance on trans rights

English actor Daniel Radcliffe recently expressed his thoughts about J.K. Rowling's past comments, which the media have criticized as anti-trans. He also showed his support for the LGBTQ community by referencing the Harry Potter franchise.

On April 30, the 34-year-old appeared in an interview with The Atlantic and revealed that he and Rowling have not been in contact in the past few years. While talking about transgender rights, the actor brought up the Harry Potter books and said,

"If they taught you that strength is found in diversity and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups. It remains between readers and the books, and it is sacred."

Daniel went on to say that he had been working with The Trevor Project, a Non-Profit Organization focused on suicide prevention efforts for LGBTQ+ youth, for 12 years. He also shared that it would be "immense cowardice to me to not say something" in support of trans rights.

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Daniel Radcliffe says he was "really sad" about J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric

J.K. Rowling wrote and created the Harry Potter series, seven books published between 1997 and 2007. She was also the author of companion volumes such as Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and co-wrote a story on which the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was based.

Daniel Radcliffe played the main protagonist in all eight films in the series from 2001 to 2011. In 2020, Rowling received a lot of backlash for posting a series of tweets in response to an article that used the phrase “people who menstruate.” She claimed that those aspects of the trans movement were working to undermine women’s rights.

Last month, the author also claimed on her social media that Daniel Radcliffe and co-star Emma Watson were "celebs who cozied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors." After J.K.'s 2020 comments, Radcliffe stated through The Trevor Project,

"Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I."

Daniel Radcliffe's interview with The Atlantic covered several topics from his career and the impact of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise on his life. The actor told the media outlet that if "those are Jo’s views" on trans rights, "then they are not the views of everybody associated with the Potter franchise."

"It makes me really sad, ultimately, because I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic," he added.

Daniel Radcliffe's co-stars Watson and Rupert Grint and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them star Eddie Redmayne also opposed Rowling’s position. The 34-year-old actor shared that several people "found some solace in those books and films" who were dealing with "feeling closeted or rejected by their family or living with a secret."

He also mentioned that the British media and netizens have a version where they call him and his co-stars "ungrateful brats" and added,

"So, good for them, I guess … Obviously Harry Potter would not have happened without [Rowling], so nothing in my life would have probably happened the way it is without that person. But that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life."

Daniel Radcliffe concluded by reaffirming that he will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people and refused to give any further comment on the matter.