Trans activists protest new Harry Potter store opening over JK Rowling's views

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Friday, November 06, 2026

A group of trans activists protested outside the opening of a new Harry Potter flagship store in London this week, targeting author J.K. Rowling over her opposition to transgender ideology and policies allowing men who identify as female into women’s spaces.

Demonstrators gathered outside the store on Oxford Street on Wednesday. The protesters held signs reading “protect trans lives” and “stop funding trans erasure," reports The Standard. The demonstrators were reported as chanting “trans rights are human rights” and “when trans are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back.”

“We will be here protesting all day. We’re sorry for the noise, but unfortunately kids are dying,” one of the protesters was quoted as saying. “Trans kids are killing themselves. Trans kids are homeless, and we need to think about those children.”

The activists also tried to discourage people lined up outside from entering, telling them not to read the Harry Potter books to their children or bring them to the flagship store.

The Harry Potter Shop Oxford Street officially opened Wednesday at The Ribbon, 134–140 Oxford Street. The store features a full-size recreation of the Knight Bus, a representation of the Leaky Cauldron pub and a Hogwarts-themed teddy bear sorting experience.

Actor Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” films, visited the store before its official opening and praised its attention to detail, according to The Standard.

The store’s opening comes as HBO prepares a new television series based on Rowling’s books. Rowling is serving as an executive producer on the project.

Warner Bros. Pictures previously adapted the seven-book fantasy series into eight feature films, which helped establish Harry Potter as an internationally recognized entertainment franchise.

Rowling has faced backlash from trans activists over the years for repeatedly defending women’s sex-based rights. The activists have accused her of bigotry and of refusing to acknowledge the existence of trans-identifying individuals.

“I have never denied that people who call themselves trans exist and in the UK, they rightly have exactly the same rights as every other citizen. What you want is for women to lose their sex-based rights to accommodate men who say they’re women. That’s the conflict,” the Harry Potter author wrote in a Sunday X post.

The author has argued that recognizing biological sex is necessary to preserve protections and spaces specifically designated for women. Her disagreements with advocates of gender identity ideology have included debates over women’s shelters, prisons, bathrooms, changing rooms and rape crisis services.

Rowling has also faced pushback for her positions from actors who starred in the original “Harry Potter” film franchise, including Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger.

In October 2025, Rowling publicly criticized Watson after the actress discussed their disagreement during an appearance on the “Jay Shetty Podcast.”

Watson said she disagreed with Rowling’s views on the trans issue but that it did not prevent her from valuing the relationship they developed while working together.

“I can treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” Watson said during the interview.

The actress also said she did not believe anyone was “disposable” and argued that everyone deserved dignity and respect.

In response to Watson, Rowling highlighted her own experience of living through poverty and financial hardship before publishing the Harry Potter series, arguing that the actress does not understand real-world hardships.

“Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” the author said.

The writer also questioned whether Watson, who became wealthy and famous through her acting career, understood the practical consequences of losing access to female-only spaces.

Rowling added that it is unlikely Watson will ever have to live in a homeless shelter and doubtful that the film star has even changed clothes in a school locker room since childhood.

“Her ‘public bathroom’ is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door,” the British author wrote. “Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis center that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who’s identified into the women’s prison?”

The author also described an incident at the 2022 British Academy Film Awards as a “turning point” in their relationship.

During the ceremony, Watson presented an award after host Rebel Wilson introduced her as a feminist and joked that she was a witch. Watson then said, “I’m here for all of the witches,” a statement that Rowling and others interpreted as a reference to the controversy surrounding the author’s views.

Watson later reportedly sent Rowling a private note expressing sympathy for the threats the author had received.

“Adults can’t expect to cozy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend’s assassination, then assert their right to the former friend’s love, as though the friend was in fact their mother,” Rowling said. “Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public — but I have the same right, and I’ve finally decided to exercise it.”