Transgender artist Laur Flom has taken to removing JK Rowling's credits from Harry Potter books, dedicating his efforts to creating a "safe space" for fans who can’t tolerate her remarks on transgenders.
The 23-year-old Canadian bartender turned bookbinder in January 2022, claiming that Rowling’s statements regarding people who underwent sex reassignment surgery motivated his decision.
"The project is spurred by her [Rowling's] transphobia. I was [a fan of the Harry Potter series]. Growing up when I did, it was a given that you would read Harry Potter. After J.K. Rowling's views on people like me came out, it left a bad taste in my mouth. It raised questions about the ethics of consuming her work," Flom explained.
The artist also clarified that: "The purpose of this project is to (...) find comfort in the books and critically engage with J.K Rowling's work. This project isn't about the 'death of the author', that's impossible."
It takes 12 hours to re-bind each book. The bartender says he spends 15 hours every week on the binding and combines it with his work in the bar.
It costs £140 to bind one book. If someone wants to bind all seven volumes of a series, it will cost £979, a percentage of which goes to transgender charities.
According to the artist's statement to British media, "[the reactions are] mostly good, the majority of my comments are positive". Flom is also happy due to the opportunity to "enlighten" people about Rowling's statements: "'I think that it's been successful so far, just the fact that people have been interested makes me think that it's been successful."
Rowling previously expressed her disapproval of the phrase "people who menstruate" in a series of social media posts in July 2020. She also argued that the abolition of the concept of gender deprives people of meaningful discussion.
Later, Rowling, who has faced an enormous backlash over her views, published a 3,600-word essay on her personal website responding to criticism. She stated that she had experienced domestic and sexual abuse and that she was wary of men entering women's spaces.
Although some people, including members of the LGBT+ community, agreed with Rowling's position, many began to threaten her with physical violence. Several activists published her home address on social media, prompting Scotland Yard to interfere.
Amid the scandal around her statements, Rowling, along with nearly 150 other prominent western intellectuals, signed A Letter on Justice and Open Debate. As part of this letter they asked that tolerance not be turned into a weapon of totalitarianism and so-called "cancel culture."