In December, J.K. Rowling, the billionaire author of the Harry Potter books, dared to support a woman who argues that men cannot magically become women.  For this crime, Rowling, who has been a lockstep leftist, became the subject of a sustained hate campaign.  On Thursday, she published an essay justifying her belief in biological womanhood and expressing concern that the transgender movement is part of a sustained attack on women.

Transgender madness has progressed farther in Britain than in America.  The woman Rowling was defending, Maya Forstater, lost her job for challenging proposed amendments to the Gender Recognition Act of 2004.  Under the GRA, people who want legal "gender" recognition have to jump through a few hoops showing their commitment to their non-biological gender.  The proposed revisions would end any requirements other than a person's say-so.

The British Employment Tribunal ruled against Forstater because her position was "incompatible with human dignity and fundamental rights of others."  The judge held that legislation trumps human biology:

[Forstater's] position is that even if a trans woman has a Gender Recognition Certificate, she cannot honestly describe herself as a woman. That belief is not worthy of respect in a democratic society. It is incompatible with the human rights of others that have been identified and defined by the [European Court of Human Rights] and put into effect through the Gender Recognition Act.

Rowling tweeted her support for Forstater, bringing the wrath of the transgender lobby down upon her for being a "TERF" (a "trans-exclusionary radical feminist," AKA a woman):

Dress however you please.
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019

This year, Rowling compounded her offense when she followed on Twitter a dying lesbian, Magdalen Berns.  Like many lesbians, Bern resented so-called transgender women (i.e., men) who accuse lesbians of being transphobic for refusing to date them.

Rowling's essay is made almost embarrassing by its endless assurances that she supports those people who are genuinely transgender.  However, behind the apologies are some serious points.

Free speech:

[A]s a much-banned author, I'm interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended it, even unto Donald Trump.

Societal and peer pressure on young girls to "transition" to men:

I'm concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility.

False claims that denying transgenderism leads to suicide:

In an article explaining why he resigned from the Tavistock (an NHS gender clinic in England) psychiatrist Marcus Evans stated that claims that children will kill themselves if not permitted to transition do not 'align substantially with any robust data or studies in this area. Nor do they align with the cases I have encountered over decades as a psychotherapist.'

Transgenderism as part of a rising tide of misogyny (with the usual false, but obligatory, leftist attack on Trump):

We're living through the most misogynistic period I've experienced. [snip] Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now. From the leader of the free world's long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of 'grabbing them by the pussy', to the incel ('involuntarily celibate') movement that rages against women who won't give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble.

The risk to girls and women from allowing men in women-only spaces (including Rowling's confession that she was sexually assaulted when young and that her first husband was violently abusive):

I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. 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. That is the simple truth.

Except for her reflexive anti-Trump animus and her groveling assurances that she loves true transgender people, Rowling's essay is good and deserves to be read.  Perhaps one day she'll realize that it was the leftism she embraces that, by rejecting good old Judeo-Christian values, led to this point.