THE owners of the Stonewall Inn – the birthplace of the modern gay Pride movement – have accused JK Rowling of "doing damage" to the LGBT+ community "globally".
Speaking to The National, Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly, who co-own The Stonewall Inn in New York, where riots broke out in 1969 after a police raid on one of the few safe LGBT+ spaces that existed at the time, said: "JK Rowling, through her books and movie franchises and everything globally, has a platform and it has done damage.
"Even though she’s based in Scotland, it’s affected people globally. Now we’ve got to go back and try to go back and educate people.
"Trans folks typically make up about 1% of the population, but politicians are using them as political fodder. They’re just trying to live their lives.
"I would say the 1% you have to worry about are the billionaires that are making us all divided at the bottom of the pile. That’s who’s taking away your rights."
The pair also weighed in on the Supreme Court’s decision to base the definition of sex on biology and the subsequent removal of trans women from female prisons.
There were 19 transgender prisoners in Scottish prisons in June 2025 and 80% of them were held in facilities based on their biological sex. This means that just a small handful of people had actually been placed into a prison based on their gender identity.
Transgender people have become a hot topic in Scotland because of the SNP Government’s attempt to reform the Gender Recognition Act to include them in 2022. Off the back of this JK Rowling developed a new following of gender-critical supporters, who argue that trans women are taking away women’s sex-based rights.
Stacy argued that there is little threat to women from trans people.
She said: "The [belief] that trans women are going in and attacking women in restrooms is a political myth that’s just not happening. We are being fed misinformation."
The Scottish gender-critical movement had its biggest win in June 2025 when the Supreme Court judge ruled that the definition of a woman should be based on biological sex.
Stacy added: "There are intersex people too. Even if it’s a small population, when you leave them out, it’s wrong. You’re not going to have equality."
It is not just in Scotland where action has been taken to exclude trans people from gendered spaces and Stacy noted the Supreme Court’s ruling that trans people can no longer compete in women’s sports at colleges and high school in the US.
She said: "I think there’s less than 20 people that really have competed. It’s just another political division that uses trans and, in this case, intersex people, as well as political fodder. They’re using it to get conservative votes and get people on their side."
The Stonewall Inn owners, who are sharing the historic side of Pride in the UK, went on to express concern this Pride Month about the impact that the narrative around transgender people is having.
Stacy said: "We’re seeing a lot of conservative people thinking about overturning gay marriage or same-sex adoption and things that affect the broader communities."
The duo are now working to enact change worldwide through their non-profit, The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIGBI), to ensure that The Stonewall Inn is at the forefront of protecting the community into the future.
The initiative is enacting change through an eight-point programme created in consultation with LGBT+ people that businesses and venues all over the world can adopt to ensure that they are creating safe and welcoming spaces for everyone – including a commitment to recognising LGBT+ people all year round, and not just Pride month.
The Stonewall Inn has had to continue the fight outside its own doorstep and The Trump Administration removed the Pride flag from the nearby Stonewall Monument and references of transgender people from its website. But the flag has since been returned to the monument and The Stonewall Inn is fighting to have trans people once again included on the historical site’s website.
Kurt added: "It’s important that people know their history, especially the younger generation. LGBTQ+ people might not have a future, and this is what’s starting to happen.
"Back in 1969, people fought for the right for them to say who they love and to say who they are. They have to remember that they have to fight back when it’s being taken away from us, which it is starting to be."
