JK Rowling has reacted angrily after Amnesty International included her women’s charity in a disputed list linked to the organisation’s concerns over transgender rights and equality campaigning.
The Harry Potter author set up Beira’s Place in 2022 to help women who have experienced sexual violence. The Edinburgh-based service has now been named among almost 200 groups that Amnesty claims are contributing to a rollback of rights for women and LGBT people.
Rowling, one of the world’s most famous novelists, has in recent years become a prominent and outspoken voice in debates over women’s rights, with a particular focus on the protection of single-sex spaces.
Beira’s Place describes its work as providing a “safe and supportive sexual assault service for women in Edinburgh,” offering advocacy, information and practical support within what it calls a secure women-only environment.
The author said she was “burning with fury” after discovering the charity had been listed by Amnesty alongside 176 other organisations accused by the NGO of undermining LGBT and women’s rights.
Among the other groups cited in Amnesty’s report are Sex Matters, which backs legal efforts to defend single-sex provision, and For Women Scotland, the campaign organisation whose court challenge resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that the term “women” in equality law refers to biological females and does not include trans women.
In a series of sharply worded posts on social media, Rowling criticised Amnesty over Beira’s Place being included, saying: “Amnesty is no longer the organisation that defended all who were persecuted for their freedom of speech.
“It has become a self-appointed, vainglorious policeman of wrongthink. It tweets out ideological slogans. It demonises those who disagree with those slogans. It intervened in FWS v Scottish Ministers, on the side of those determined to keep men in women’s prisons and rape crisis centres…
JK Rowling has been known to share her strong views about women’s rights on social media
Amnesty International produced a report of organisations that it believes are holding back women’s and LGBT rights – including Ms Rowling’s Ediburgh rape centre Beira’s Place
‘You cannot be simultaneously an impartial defender of freedom and speech and a wealthy international witch hunter that publicly vilifies and intimidates small campaigning groups with whom you disagree.
‘As for “silencing” Amnesty, I have neither the power nor the desire to do so. I want them to explain as loudly and extensively as possible why they are using their might and formerly lustrous reputation to attack small non-violent campaigning organisations with legally protected beliefs.’
Ms Rowling added: ‘Amnesty’s attack on Beira’s Place has left me burning with the kind of fury that mounts with every passing hour.’
She also said: ‘I am still f*****g furious, thanks for asking.’
On Friday, the head of Amnesty International UK was urged to resign after a report by the charity suggested ‘gender-critical’ feminists were anti-trans rights.
The report by the global charity’s British arm claimed gender-critical people – who believe someone’s true gender is based on biology rather than how they identify – represent ‘a movement against the rights of women and LGBTI people’.
Published in May and available on its website, it claims ‘the growth and influence of the GC [gender–critical] movement’ is ‘worrying’ and has been normalised by the media.
It also calls on journalists to ‘qualify GC and explain that it is an ideological stance that seeks to restrict the rights of trans people’ in their reporting.
Ms Rowling took to X to share her ‘fury’ over Amnesty’s report, which listed more than 170 organisations it considers anti-trans
The emergence of the document, called ‘Like a snowball: the growth and impact of the gender critical movement in the UK’, sparked calls for Kerry Moscogiuri to consider resigning after a separate report also sparked a backlash last week.
It had to be removed after it dubbed Beira’s Place ‘anti-rights’.
The Harry Potter author later threatened to bankroll legal action over the report, including other organisations who were listed – prompting Amnesty to remove it from their website.
Beira’s Place claimed the briefing has caused ‘extremely serious’ damage to the service, its staff and the women who rely on it and that it was bombarded with threats and abuse.
It emerged on Thursday that Amnesty UK had referred itself to the charity regulator after backlash from the report.
The NGO apologised and removed the report, saying it had not gone through the ‘established internal review processes’.
Campaigners have said the latest document proves Amnesty is aiming to target gender-critical feminists.
The Times has uncovered a video posted on Amnesty UK’s Bluesky account on June 1 in which the NGO’s gender justice spokeswoman, Chiara Capraro, said its new research had found that the number of ‘anti-trans organisations’ had risen from three in 2017 to 51.
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Ms Rowling has threatened Amnesty International with legal action, prompting the organisation to remove the report from its website. The NGO has now referred itself to the charity regulator
She claimed such groups formed part of a global network, adding: ‘That’s why we’re exposing them.’
The Charity Commission watchdog said it was aware of complaints against Amnesty, saying: ‘We are assessing the matters raised to determine what, if any, role there might be for us as charity law regulator.’
An Amnesty International UK spokesman previously said: ‘”Like a snowball: the growth and reach of the gender critical movement in the UK” examines the role of mainstream media coverage in shaping public debate about trans issues in the UK.
‘Among its findings, it reported that four major UK newspapers published nearly 17,000 articles on trans-related topics over a five-year period, equivalent to around nine articles per day.
‘The report argues that trans people have become a highly contested subject in public discourse, while trans voices have often been underrepresented in that coverage.’
A spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘We regret that this briefing was uploaded to our website without going through the established internal review processes that are in place to ensure consistency, accuracy and alignment with Amnesty International UK’s position.
‘Its use of language does not reflect the position of Amnesty International UK which is why it was promptly removed. We are conducting a thorough review into how this serious issue occurred.
‘We remain committed to defending human rights, including the rights of women and girls, and the rights of trans people.
‘The rights of one community do not diminish the rights of another. Human rights protections are strongest when they apply equally to everyone.
‘No community should be singled out for unfair treatment or denied their dignity and rights.’
