Bookstore Chooses Principles Over Profit And Removes Harry Potter Series
San Francisco’s queer-run bookstore Booksmith has pulled the Harry Potter series, citing J.K. Rowling’s financial backing of anti-trans lawsuits.
In a decision that has drawn both support and controversy, Booksmith—a primarily queer-run independent bookstore in San Francisco—has chosen to remove the Harry Potter series from its shelves in response to author J.K. Rowling’s recent financial support of initiatives viewed as harmful to the transgender community. The bookstore’s staff explained that supporting Rowling’s work directly funds an agenda that threatens the safety and dignity of transgender people. By doing this, Booksmith has aligned itself with a wave of businesses refusing to benefit from creators whose actions actively harm LGBTQ+ communities.
Rowling started openly criticizing trans women in March of 2022 when a Scottish bill was proposed to allow trans people to change their legal gender more easily, arguing that the reform ‘undermined women’s rights.’ Then, in February 2024, she donated approximately $81,000 to For Women Scotland, a group that sought to legally define “woman” by biological sex. On April 16 this year, the UK Supreme Court ruled in favor of For Women Scotland that the Equality Act’s definition of “woman” refers only to biological females. This excluded trans women, even if they hold Gender Recognition Certificates. Rowling celebrated the ruling on social media with a “TERF VE Day” post, which pictured her holding a celebratory sifter and smoking a cigar that read, “I love it when a plan comes together.” Weeks later, her newly formed “J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund” was confirmed to finance legal challenges targeting trans rights, explicitly to challenge transgender protections.
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The Supreme Court’s decision states that Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) remain legally acknowledged as their gender in some contexts, but are excluded from “woman” status under the Equality Act. This prohibits access to single-sex spaces like bathrooms, shelters, hospitals, sports teams, and changing rooms. The Equality and Human Rights Commission issued updated guidance mandating compliance, while trans-rights advocates, including Human Rights Watch and LGBTQ+ organizations, described the ruling as a dangerous rollback that will create real risks of exclusion, harassment, and discrimination for trans people across the UK.
The backlash to Booksmith’s decision has been swift. Some readers lament losing access to their favorite childhood stories. Others argue literature should be separated from authorial beliefs. But Booksmith’s actions remind us that stories don’t exist in a vacuum. They resonate within communities, shaping norms, beliefs, and funding campaigns with real-world consequences. We are watching LGBTQ+ rights be taken away in real time. By removing Rowling’s books, Booksmith is drawing a line that it’s not a matter of separating the art from the artist anymore, it’s choosing between art and harm.
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