Actor-Comedian Eddie Izzard Defends J.K. Rowling: I Don’t Think She Is Transphobic

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 21: Eddie Izzard speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Ang
Rich Polk/Getty Images for Politicon
Hannah Knudsen

Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard, who identifies as “gender fluid,” leapt to famed author J.K. Rowling’s defense amid the ongoing debate over gender identity and its impact on women, concluding that the Harry Potter author is not “transphobic.”

“I don’t think J.K. Rowling is transphobic. I think we need to look at the things she has written about in her blog,” the British comedian said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, urging people “look at the things she has written about in her blog.”

“Women have been through such hell over history. Trans people have been invisible, too,” Izzard, who has been described as having both “boy and girl mode,” Izzard continued. “I hate the idea we are fighting between ourselves, but it’s not going to be sorted with the wave of a wand. I don’t have all the answers. If people disagree with me, fine – but why are we going through hell on this?”

Last month, the actor announced the beginning of a “transition period,” moving into “girl mode from now on,” Izzard preferred being identified by the pronouns “she” and “her.”
“I’m gender fluid. Your brain gets coded male or female when you’re young. Mine got coded both ways,” the comedian told the Telegraph. “I have the gift of both, although it doesn’t feel like a gift at first.”

J.K. Rowling, meanwhile, has remained at the center of the debate after publicly questioning radical transgender ideology and the impact it has on biological women. Proponents viciously attacked Rowling over the summer after she questioned the leftist narrative that biological sex is a social construct, arguing that such ideology effectively erases women.

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives,” Rowling said, adding that it “isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

That same day, she offered commentary in an article titled, “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”

‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she asked, drawing ire from radical transgender activists.

The backlash became so severe that Rowling returned a 2019 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation award in August after Kerry Kennedy, the president of the foundation, denounced her position on the transgender ideology’s impact on women.

“From her own words, I take Rowling’s position to be that the sex one is assigned at birth is the primary and determinative factor of one’s gender, regardless of one’s gender identity—a position that I categorically reject,” he said, concluding that “the science is clear and conclusive” that “sex is not binary.”

In a recent interview with Good Housekeeping magazine, the famed author explained that women remained “concerned about the challenges to their fundamental rights posed by certain aspects of gender identity ideology.”

“This climate of fear serves nobody well, least of all trans people. I believe everybody should be free to live a life that is authentic to them, and that they should be safe to do so,” she said, noting the support she has received from “medical staff, social workers, prison workers, workers in women’s refuges and members of the LGBT community, including trans people.”

The gender identity debate has continued to span across several aspects of society, including children’s networks. In a social media post last month, the Cartoon Network informed children that there are “many gender identities beyond boy and girl” and encouraged them to normalize and respect preferred gender pronouns.

The network also provided a link to a toolkit that listed off-limit phrases and words, including “biological sex,” “female(s),” “gender dysphoria,” and “sexual reassignment surgery.”

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