J.K. Rowling Fires Back at Paralympian Valentina Petrillo's Claim
Harry Potter series of books and The Cormoran Strike crime series under the pen name of Robert Galbraith. She has become known more recently for her prolific posting about transgender issues, which some people have labeled as transphobic.Her latest thoughts on transgender people come after Italian Paralympian Valentina Petrillo spoke about Rowling in an interview with The Times.The athlete competed at the Paris 2024 games and was the first openly transgender person to compete at a Paralympics.Petrillo competed in the T12 200m and 400m races for visually impaired athletes, managing to reach the semi-finals in both events.
But backlash over her participation came in thick and heavy during the games, including from Rowling, who posted on X, formerly Twitter account, describing her as a "out and proud cheat."The row over transgender people participating in sports, particularly in women's sports, has escalated in recent years, with some claiming they have an unfair advantage because they were assigned male at birth.Petrillo opened up about the backlash to The Times."It was a surprise because I'm not used to this.
I don't know how to handle it. Before I was focused on my performance so I didn't know [the full extent of] what was happening around me," Petrillo told the newspaper.She also set her sights on Rowling, saying the author "is only concerned about the fact that I use the female toilet," but she "doesn't know anything about me."Rowling responded to that quote about the "female toilet," when she shared the article to her X account.She wrote in response to Petrillo: "Yeah, no.
That's not the only thing I, or any of the other millions of women concerned about the destruction of female categories, boundaries and rights, are concerned about."'JK Rowling is only concerned about the fact that I use the female toilet'.
