Reference & Education, Environmental

Dame Maureen Lipman has urged people to stop ‘kicking a**’ at author JK Rowling for her views on the language around transgender identities, adding that she is an ‘actress not an actor’.

The Coronation Street star urged people to not attack each other for their views, as she supported the writer’s stance on womanhood, stepping into the trans debate.

‘I am an actress, not an actor and, if somebody tries to take the word “woman” away from me, I shall be very cross,’ Dame Maureen said.

‘If you have to kick a** at someone like Joanne Rowling, who’s literally taught a generation to read, something’s not right.’ 

‘Yes, some of my views can be a little old fashioned.But don’t attack me for them. Consider my point of view. Demonstrate a little kindness. Be patient,’ the 76-year-old told Reader’s Digest. 

The Harry Potter writer has previously objected to the phrase ‘people who menstruate’ instead of ‘women’, facing furious backlash as a result.

The 56-year-old said that by using the phrase, it was erasing ‘the lived reality of women globally’. 

She regularly speaks out about transgender issues and the impact that decisions made by organisations and schools could have on sex as a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act. 

It comes as the children’s book author defended a disabled schoolgirl who was told she did not have the right to women-only care in school toilets.

The parents of the 16 year-old girl, who has severe learning disabilities, were told two years ago the school was replacing its ‘same-sex’ intimate care policy with a ‘cross-gender’ policy.

This meant male staff would also be able to take part in intimate care for the pupil – including using the toilet and changing rooms.

JK Rowling blasted the school’s approach on Twitter, saying it would endanger ‘extremely vulnerable girls.’

The Harry Potter author added: ‘This is a travesty.

‘Have we learned nothing from successive abuse scandals?Do we value the disabled so little?’ 

The parents of ‘Helen’ – not her real name – wrote about their dispute with the school in a post on website Transgender Trend.

They said the school eventually conceded Helen could be cared for by women, but only because of ‘parental preference.’

The author has previously been praised by Attorney General Suella Braverman over transgender issues in schools.

The Tory minister said the Harry Potter author was a ‘heroine’ for campaigning for female only spaces for those born women and added that schools should be able to treat all children by their birth gender because under 18s cannot legally change their gender.  

In April, JK Rowling’s name magically reappeared in the trailer for the Fantastic Beasts film after it was effectively scrubbed from the original version amid the author’s ongoing transphobia row.

The Harry Potter creator was barely mentioned in the first teaser in December after many said she had been cancelled by the woke brigade for her comments on trans issues.

In its original trailer, it used the captions ‘Warner Bros invites you’ rather than ‘J.K Rowling invites you’, as had been the case in previous teasers, and shoved Rowling’s name in a minor publishing note at the end.

It led some to theorise that studio bosses were ‘woke-washing’ the film’s promotional material by removing or hiding Rowling’s name to appeal to millennial and younger audiences — many of whom disagree with her remarks.

The same month, the author hosted some of the country’s most prominent feminists and women’s activists for a self-confessed boozy lunch to support the ‘Respect My Sex’ campaign.

Guests at The River Cafe in Fulham included Professor Kathleen Stock, who resigned from her University of Sussex job after being accused of ‘transphobia’ and Helen Joyce, who penned Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality.

The co-founder of Sex Matters – which has united with other causes under the slogan ‘Respect my Sex if you want my X’ banner – Maya Forstater was also there.

They were joined by MP Rosie Duffield and veteran activist and campaigner at Get The L Out- Lesbian NOT queer campaign group Lianne Timmermann.

Also there was businesswoman Angela Wild, who says she has been sent ‘death and rape threats on a daily basis’ by transgender rights activists over her t-shirts and badges campaigning for women’s sex-based rights. 

In May, the 44-year-old was locked out of her Twitter account for writing: ‘All men should be banned from women-only spaces – and they are’.

She was supported by JK Rowling, who retweeted a post claiming Ms Wild was being ‘sabotaged’ by trans activists. 

That month, the BBC criticised an arts reporter who made a ‘misleading’ comment on JK Rowling’s views on gender identity.

Tom Sutcliffe made the statement on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme on March 24 that JK Rowling’s critical view on whether transgender women are women is ‘very unpopular’.

The journalist was complained about 584 times and the BBC’s complaints unit said there is no evidence that Rowling’s view is in a minority.