Nadia Whittome rightly blames Rowling and Musk for transphobia – but Labour is to blame too

A queer MP has hit out at billionaires who are funding transphobia. One of the newest members of the Women and Equalities Committee, Nadia Whittome, told The Mirror that the government isn’t doing enough to stand up for trans people against the tirade of hate they’re experiencing in the media and online.

Billionaires funding hate

She pointed out exactly which class is fuelling this current hate, drawing attention to their motives:

You just need to follow where the transphobia is coming from, it’s not coming from working-class people, it’s trickling down from the top.

She continued to say that:

These concerns are not being raised by a cleaner on the minimum wage, somebody stuck in an abusive relationship. Trans people aren’t a threat to them, the threat to them comes from violent men and the structures that keep them trapped, whether that’s low pay, low benefits, not having access to the public services they need.

When asked who is behind this, Whittome said Labour aren’t doing enough but aren’t the primary aggressors.

I don’t think that’s because a Labour government is the main driving force, I think the main driving force pushing it backwards, there are external forces funded by big money from Elon Musk to JK Rowling, but the Government isn’t standing up against that with a compassionate alternative, and it’s allowing itself to be pushed in that direction.

Queen of the Terfs JK Rowling

Previously the beloved creator of Harry Potter, Rowling now spends her days tweeting transphobic bile from her mouldy castle. As the Canary previously reported, Rowling also donated £70,000 to the advocacy group, For Women Scotland, involved in the the Supreme Court case which ruled that trans women would not be considered as women.

After that, in June 2025, she set up the JK Rowling Women’s Fund, which uses her personal wealth to fund transphobes. After that, in June 2025, she set up the JK Rowling Women’s Fund, which uses funding from her personal wealth to provide support for cis women pursuing legal cases against trans women.

As a Trans Kids Deserve Better Activist said at a protest outside of Rowling’s play, The Cursed Child:

The day society stops funding Harry Potter is the day we stop funding threats towards women of all kinds.

Speaking about JK Rowling, Whittome said:

I think it’s very sad, I feel very sorry for her, for someone who was once a treasured children’s author.

Loser Musk

Twitter loser Elon Musk, on the other hand previously tweeted:

My son [dead name] died. Killed by the woke mind virus

He was actually referring to his daughter Vivian, who is trans, very much alive and has spoken out against her father’s actions. Musk also spent over $50 million dollars funding Citizens for Sanity which ran anti-trans and anti-immigrant ads.

Commenting on the forces fuelling anti trans rhetoric, Whittome added:

We see negative headlines about trans people in the media every day, the Tories and Reform continue to use them as a political football, often most damagingly in reference to protecting women from women who aren’t trans, which misdiagnoses the problem of male violence, which is something…done to women both trans and not trans by violent and abusive men.

Labour has its fair share of blame

Talking about how Labour can counteract this, she said

The only way we can stop trans people being used as a political football is to stand up for their rights unequivocally, by not giving an inch.

However, this is probably not an entirely welcome sentiment in the Labour Party. The Health Minister Wes Streeting was the subject of a year’s worth of protesting by Trans Kids Deserve Better after a slew of anti trans policies, including banning puberty blockers for trans teens and supporting the EHRC guidance that says trans women aren’t women. The Labour Party is also, of course, the political home of humongous transphobe Rosie Duffield. Labour has also previously cosied up to Mowlding in an attempt to appease her, concluding that:

The party should have learnt this by now, when you start giving an inch, it’s never far enough for people, some are not going to be happy until we no longer have a Gender Recognition Act, which by the way, was an achievement of the last Labour Government. We would do well to continue that legacy.

While this is all much needed, it still whitewashes the fact that a lot of anti-trans sentiment comes from inside the Labour Party. If Labour is going to tackle transphobia, which it isn’t entirely clear that, beyond Whittome and a few others, Labour actually wants to do, they need to look at the actions of their own MPs too.

Featured image via the Canary.