JK Rowling has been reported to the police by India Willoughby over accusations the author allegedly misgendered the broadcaster.
Willoughby, 58, a trans woman, claimed the Harry Potter writer called her a man in a series of posts on social media.
On Sunday, Rowling posted a criticism of trans women being allowed into women’s changing rooms on X/Twitter and in the thread she spoke about Willoughby and said: ‘India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.’
Willoughby, who is Britain’s first trans newsreader, said the best-selling author had ‘definitely committed a crime’ after the posts.
However, Rowling said there was no law which compelled her to refer to Willoughby as female.
JK Rowling (pictured) has hit back after being reported to the police by India Willoughby
Broadcaster India Willoughby, 57, has accused JK Rowling of ‘misgendering’ in a series of social media posts
Speaking to Byline TV, Willoughby said: ‘JK Rowling has definitely committed a crime.
‘I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman and she calls me a man. It’s a protected characteristic.
‘And that is a breach of both the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act. She’s tweeted that out to 14 million followers.’
Under the Equality Act 2010, a person cannot discriminate against another because of a protected characteristic, such as gender reassignment.
The police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have both agreed the definition for identifying hate crimes includes a criminal offence that is perceived by the victim, or another, to be ‘motivated by hostility or prejudice,’ based on a person’s ‘transgender identity or perceived transgender identity.’
Willoughby added: ‘Well, I’ve been to the police and I’ve reported it as an issue. I contacted Northumbria Constabulary yesterday.’
‘I have reported JK Rowling to the police for what she said.
‘I don’t know if that’s going to be treated as a hate crime, malicious communications, but it’s a cut-and-dry offence as far as I’m concerned.
‘And at the end of the day, it is a hate crime. Transgender identity is a protected characteristic, just as race is, just as sexuality is.
‘And the equivalent of what JK Rowling said, calling a trans person a man deliberately… I am legally recognised as a woman and for JK Rowling to deliberately, and that is the key word, misgender me knowing who I am is grossly offensive.
‘It is a hate crime and it should be treated just as somebody calling a black person the N-word or an Asian person the P-word.’
JK Rowling said no law compelled her to refer to Willoughby as female
Rowling also claimed she was advised previously that she had a legal case against Willoughby for defamation.
She said on X/Twitter on Wednesday: ‘Some time ago, lawyers advised me that not only did I have a clearly winnable case against India Willoughby for defamation, but that India’s obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment.
‘I ignored this advice because I couldn’t be bothered giving India the publicity he so clearly craves.
‘Nevertheless, we must all do our bit to combat hate, so India will be glad to know I’ve taken note of his homophobia, racism and humane stance on immigration.
‘Nor have I forgotten India’s shocking transphobia.
‘It appears to have slipped what passes for India’s mind that he’s previously called a fellow trans woman a man on this very site.’
Rowling went on to say that Willoughby appeared to have forgotten the Forstater ruling, which ‘established that gender critical views can be protected in law’.
Maya Forstater successfully brought a case to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) to establish that gender-critical views are a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010 in 2021.
MailOnline has contacted Northumbria Police for comment
