Kezia Dugdale, incoming chair of Stonewall, apologises after backlash over JK Rowling remarks

The incoming chair of the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, says she is “truly sorry” after she expressed “huge respect” for JK Rowling in an interview with the Guardian.

Kezia Dugdale, the former leader of Scottish Labour, said she understood that her words had caused “worry, anger and upset and I am truly sorry about that”.

In an interview for the Today in Focus podcast in Edinburgh to mark her appointment as Stonewall’s chair, Dugdale was asked what she thought of the way in which Rowling has talked about transgender people.

“I have a huge respect for JK Rowling. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her before and I think her story and how she came to be this prolific, incredible children’s writer in this city as a single mum writing in a cafe is phenomenal and an inspiration,” she said.

The Guardian then pointed out that many trans people feel the way in which Rowling has voiced her opinions on social media had become “cruel and dehumanising” and contributed to them feeling “unwelcome and unaccepted in society”.

Dugdale continued: “I understand that, and I’ve also heard JK Rowling and other people who hold a different position on these issues to me describe with a similar rawness how they’ve experienced being opposed for their views. And I just think, you know, the days of these culture wars, about sitting in polar extremes from each other, should be behind us now.”

She called for “generosity of spirit, a willingness to get into the grey area to talk about these things calmly”.

The remarks prompted reaction from both trans advocates and gender-critical feminists.

In the National, trans writer Steph Paton accused Dugdale of launching herself into her new role “with a commitment to making Stonewall even more toothless and irrelevant than it was already”.

Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor who resigned from Sussex University after being targeted by protests over her views on gender ideology, wrote in the Times that “the former Scottish Labour leader did the unthinkable and praised JK Rowling.”