On Saturday, author and women’s rights activist JK Rowling was accused of being cruel to a trans-identified male who was just announced as the manager of a soccer team in England.
In a post on X, the Pride UK org announced, "Lucy Clark the world’s first openly transgender referee, has made history by becoming the first trans manager in the top 5 divisions of English women’s football. The former referee has taken over at Sutton United."
In response, Rowling wrote, "When I was young all the football managers were straight, white, middle-aged blokes, so it's fantastic to see how much things have changed."
One user who claimed her husband knows Clark's wife said to the author, "Lucy is a real person with a family, and a life to live. Bills to pay." She questioned, "What harm does her role as a football manager cause you?"
"The team loves her. Her wife and child love her," the user added. "Your decision to pile on her is simply cruel."
According to the Daily Mail, the Sutton United women's soccer team hired Clark to be its manager in January after previously officiating matches.
In recent years, Rowling has battled with trans-rights activists in an effort to protect the rights of women and has unapologetically spoken her mind. In April, she dared the police in Scotland to arrest her as the country enacted a new hate crime law, which trans-identified male India Willoughby claimed Rowling violated when she referred to Willoughby as a "man."
She posted an image of one of Willoughby's posts that fantasized about kidnapping a woman. Rowling said, "If you think women calling this person a man is more offensive than him publicly fantasizing about kidnapping women, I can't help you."
Trans-rights activists have long ignored Rowling's history of showing sympathy for trans-identified individuals. In a pinned post, she stated, "Gender dysphoria is a real and very painful condition and I feel nothing but sympathy for anyone who suffers from it."
"I want them to be free to dress and present themselves however they like and I want them to have exactly the same rights as every other citizen regarding housing, employment, and personal safety," she added. "I am strongly against women's and girls' rights and protections being dismantled to accommodate trans-identified men, for the very simple reason that no study has ever demonstrated that trans-identified men don't have exactly the same pattern of criminality as other men, and because, however, they identify, men retain their advantages of speed and strength."
