Posie Parker’s ‘I Love JK Rowling’ billboard has already been removed
Poise Parker paid ‘a lot of money’ to prop-up a digital poster in Edinburgh, Scotland, praising JK Rowling. (Screen capture via YouTube/Twitter)
A poster paid by Posie Parker, one of Britain’s loudest voices in the “gender-critical movement” , which read “I ❤ JK Rowling” at Scotland’s busiest railway station has been taken down.
The poster, stylised like the 1977 state of New York tourism campaign, was installed on Monday (27 July) at Waverly in Edinburgh, where Rowling lived for a time to be near her sister.
Parker, real name Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, said in a YouTube live stream that she paid “a lot of money” to have the sign installed praising the Harry Potter author, who has in recent months has made increasingly barbed comments about trans people.
The Scotland wing of Network Rail, an agency which manages the bulk of Britain’s railways, told PinkNews that the poster was taken down for violating its advertising guidelines as of Wednesday (30 July).
‘I Love JK Rowling’ poster taken down for its ‘political nature’, says rail operator.
“This advert is no longer displayed at Edinburgh Waverley,” a spokesperson said.
“The poster in question is against our code of acceptance for advertising in our stations owing to its political nature.
“We do not allow advertising that is likely to support or promote one viewpoint over another.”
According to the company’s website, those seeking to advertise in stations owned and managed by Network Rail can do so through JCDecaux.
Network Rail partner with the outdoor advertising business for the digital advertisements that dot its stations, such as Glasgow or London’s Waterloo.
Parker, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the same design as the poster, announced in her broadcast, “Today [27 July], I put a billboard up in Waverly station,” before adding that she was “very pleased” with it.
Parker herself is banned on Twitter. But one user, who describes herself as an “adult human female”, a common anti-trans dogwhistle to invalidate trans women’s existence, spotted the poster that same day.
She uploaded a photograph of herself raising a thumbs-up next to the poster.
Waverley train station, Edinburgh.
Standing For Women. @jk_rowling #ilovejkrowling pic.twitter.com/JM4NsN3R86
— MB KPSS (@IresonSuzy) July 27, 2020
For years, Harry Potter fans have gone on pilgrimages to Edinburgh, a quiet city where it seems every cobblestone street and cosy café has some placard or homage to the writer. Now, fans are throwing red paint and planting trans Pride flags on tributes to her.
But Posey’s poster captures the ways in which the fandom is rankled by Rowling’s new position as one of the most public figureheads in a movement that aims to contest the existence of trans people.
Anti-trans lobbyists have gripped onto Rowling’s thumping platform for varnished legitimacy, while LGBT+ fans and even actors from the series’ film adaptions – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint – distance themselves from her.
Rowling has outlined her views on trans people extensively across various Twitter threads and blog posts, throwing her queer fans into a bind – how to reimagine the wizarding world without the person who created it.
PinkNews contacted JCDecaux for comment.
