Larisha Paul
Contact Larisha Paul on X View all posts by Larisha Paul November 4, 2026 Add us as a Google Preferred Source
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Demonstrators chanting in support of transgender rights gather outside the new Harry Potter Shop on Oxford Street on November 4 in London. Ben Montgomery/Getty Images Transgender rights protesters took their battle to the frontlines at the opening of a Harry Potter store in London. The new location is flashy, with multiple floors and more than 20,000 square feet, and drew a large crowd on Oxford Street. The protesters showed up to make sure the shoppers knew what they were putting their money into.
Signs carried during the protest read “Protect Trans Lives” and urged people to “stop funding trans erasure.” Their pushback has little to do with a store selling wands and spell books. Their concern is with J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author whose anti-trans sentiments have become poisonous to the franchise in recent years.
In the U.K. specifically, Rowling has celebrated rulings that transgender women should not be recognized as women under Britain’s Equality Act. The ruling was made possible by the anti-transgender For Women Scotland campaign, to which Rowling donated £70,000 in 2024.
When HBO announced its Harry Potter series, an executive from network found it pertinent to clarify it was not “secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.” Actors who signed on to the project were criticized by association. John Lithgow, who will play Dumbledore in the series, considered quitting after learning the extent of Rowling’s anti-trans stance.
