Harry Potter author JK Rowling slams 'shameless' politicians in wake of Supreme Court ruling

JK Rowling has slammed politicians for their “deafening silence” and lack of apologies to women and girls in the wake of the UK Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last Wednesday.

The Harry Potter author called out Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other prominent Labour MPs by name – including foreign secretary David Lammy and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.

“Do these politicians have any shame?” Rowling, 59, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Rowling joined with other women’s rights campaigners in celebrating the Supreme Court’s ruling last week that determined that the definitions of “woman” and sex” refer to biological women and sex.

This means it does not extend to a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) and is expected to have an impact on how they access single-sex spaces.

On Tuesday, UK equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said trans women should use male toilets, but suggested that businesses should ensure “they have appropriate provision in place”, which could mean unisex facilities.

Rowling posted on social media sharing images of Labour politicians along with quotes.

It included Keir Starmer saying: “[The phrase ‘only women have a cervix’] is something that shouldn’t be said. It is not right.”

Since the Supreme Court ruling, Sir Keir said a woman is an “adult female” as he appeared to U-turn on his previous stance on trans rights that “trans women are women”.

Rowling said she was “disgusted” by the lack of apology or remorse that the politicians made a “serious error” in judgment over the single-sex space debate.

“Will any of them issue an apology or admit that they made a serious error in siding with well-funded activist groups lying about what the law actually said, and which had measurable, severe impact on some of society’s most vulnerable women?” Rowling wrote on X.

Women have fought (and are still fighting) the single biggest land grab on their rights in my lifetime. Some have sacrificed their livelihoods and safety to combat a pernicious ideology that has infiltrated elite institutions, including government.

Women have been persecuted,… pic.twitter.com/GHWpjTr9AP
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 22, 2025

Many Labour politicians – and SNP MSPs in Scotland – have been forced to reckon with their previous statements about trans-inclusion and trans rights in single-sex spaces like bathrooms and changing rooms.

In her latest post, Rowling quoted the deputy Prime Minister as previously saying: “I don’t think it’s for politicians or commentators to decide. People need to feel safe and that includes woman who are transitioning.”

Rowling also quoted foreign secretary David Lammy as saying people who advocate for single-sex spaces “are dinosaurs who want to hoard rights”.

Rowling said the Labour MPs were “shameless” politicians who “sided with the persecutors, the issuers of death and rape threats, the violent men demanding access to women’s and girls’ protected spaces, including domestic abuse shelters, rape crisis centres and prison cells”.

Rowling claimed that women have been “persecuted, harassed, smeared, roughed up and forced to take employers to court for discrimination” over their views.

“They’ve suffered severe detriments purely for believing what the Supreme Court has ruled to be reasonable and correct: that women are a definable biological class that has specific rights under the law to which males, however they identify, are not entitled,” the author wrote.

“As another public wave of death threats is issued against women because of the Supreme Court ruling, their silence has become deafening.”

Rowling continued: “I’m just one of millions of women disgusted by the lack of accountability or remorse. We will not forget.”

In its ruling, the Supreme Court counselled against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. The Scottish Government has agreed with this view.

The judgement was emphatic that trans people are still entitled to their rights to not be harassed or discriminated against based on their gender reassignment status.

Britain’s equality watchdog has announced new guidance for public bodies, employers, and the NHS about single-sex spaces will be published this summer in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement last week.

Scottish Ministers will be meeting with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on Thursday to discuss its progress towards issuing updated guidance.