Rupert Grint has defended transgender rights, following controversial comments from J.K. Rowling.
The 31-year-old actor – who portrayed Ron Weasley in the big-screen adaptation of Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ series – spoke out after the author came under fire for invalidating transgender people, when she took to Twitter to slam an article for using the phrase "people who menstruate" rather than "women".
Rowling later shared a personal essay on her website, in which she doubled down on her beliefs.
Rupert told The Times newspaper: "I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgement."
Rupert’s comments came after Daniel Radcliffe, who played titular hero Harry, and Emma Watson, who starred as Hermione Granger, also defended trans rights.
In part of a lengthy statement to the Trevor Project, which is focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth, Daniel, 30, said: "Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I."
Emma tweeted: "Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
"I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are."
The 28-year-old actress also revealed she has donated to two charities, Mermaids and Mama Cash, which both support the LGBTQ community.
Meanwhile, Noma Dumezweni, 50, who played Hermione in the stage play, ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, originally backed Rowling in a tweet before deleting it and explaining she needed to educate herself more on trans rights.
She wrote: "I just took down my tweet in support of reading the article from Jo.
"I’m confused. I may not understand enough as I’m not in a lot of people’s shoes. I need to understand why it’s worse that she wrote that essay, when people are asking her to explain what she means.
"I was applauding what I saw as openness, then I felt the flood arrive in such quick time that I thought, oh s***.
"I need to reread. I felt educated on HER POINT OF VIEW. Which is what I ask people to do. Educate themselves – yet I have to do SO much more on the Trans side.
"As I honour mine, and the trans friends in my life, I’ll defer to their lived experiences, not their erasure.
"There is magic in listening."