I write LGBTQ-inclusive books for children. JK Rowling's tweet breaks my heart

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling once wrote that “it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends”.

Which is why it has been incredibly difficult bearing witness to her most recent tweets in support of Maya Forstater, a woman whose story hit the news after her contract was not renewed due to her views on gender identity.

For many of us, Rowling has been our entire childhoods, our escape, and at times our friend. For many of us, that has now changed. Thanks to her defence of Forstater, who recently lost an employment tribunal over refusing to recognise transgender rights, my heart is broken, and I’m not alone.

Rowling’s tweet was unambiguous: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill”.

Disappointed fans poured their hearts out.

“I grew up as a trans child reading your books as an escape. I would often pick out names from characters to give to myself, before I ever felt comfortable in who I was. This decision, to support people that hate me, and want to do me harm. It brings me to tears... Why. Why?”, wrote @notafootstool.

Hannah Graf, a British Army officer and transgender woman, wrote: “I have been a huge fan of yours for as long as I can remember, and it breaks my heart to see this. Trans women are women, and all I and others like me want is to be treated with respect & kindness – which unfortunately is something Maya refuses to do.”

I feel the same way. As a children’s author, it is my responsibility to create a safe space for young readers to explore and imagine. A place for them to feel welcome and accepted and, whether she is aware of it or not, in 208 characters, JK has seemingly destroyed what was once a safe space for trans and gender non-conforming people.

We know, from detailed school reports from LGBT+ charities such as Stonewall, that support for young LGBT+ people can be life-saving. That support can often come from fiction. And it was my own experience of growing up gay that inspired me to write my stories.

I’ve written and illustrated six LGBT+ inclusive picture books in the hopes of familiarising children with different types of people. I simply want to grow older in a kinder, more accepting world, and my tactic is to use the skills I have to help combat homophobia, biphobia and transphobia before it can even begin.

I fell into a world of LGBT+ activism after creating my first children’s book, Prince Henry – A Gay Fairytale Romance for Children. All I wanted was to write the book I would’ve needed when I was growing up; never did I think that primary schools across the UK would be using it to teach about equality and diversity.

As I followed where my pen led me, I soon learned that many more books were desperately needed. It was the voices and life experiences of trans men and women, such as Ayla Holdom, Munroe Bergdorf, Shon Faye and Jake Graf, that taught me how painful and cruel our world can be for transgender people.

Earlier this year, on International Trans Day of Remembrance, the Transgender Europe Network’s “Trans Murder Monitoring” report declared 331 reported murders of trans and gender-diverse people worldwide in the last year.

Tragic, but is it shocking when we see how trans people constantly and unfairly vilified in the press and media? You only have to watch the video If I had a voice from UK charity Mermaids to understand the barrage of hate trans and gender non-conforming children and adults have to face.

Having spent time with Mermaids, visited them at their weekend retreats for trans and gender non-conforming children and learnt from them, I pledge to forever be a life-long friend and I hope they will hold me accountable the same way we are currently holding Rowling because it is my duty, as Charlie Craggs so fiercely put it, to “fight for trans women of colour the way they fought for [me] 50 years ago”.

Perhaps we will see JK’s representative put it down once again to a “clumsy middle-aged moment” (in 2018 JK was accused of liking a transphobic tweet from @racybearhold), but what I’d really like to see is conversation, understanding and empathy. Trans and gender-non conforming people are some of the most vulnerable in our society and we need to protect them.

One thing I am certain of is that transgender and gender-non conforming children will always be validated and welcome in my stories.

Olly Pike is the creator of Pop’n’Olly – an LGBT+ educational resource for children, parents, carers and teachers. His videos and books are being used in primary schools across the UK and beyond to teach about equality and diversity