[Gentle, upbeat piano music plays before fading underneath the narration]
I have always defined myself by what I love. I will discover a book, song, TV show, or other piece of media and immerse myself in every facet of that world until it becomes a part of me. At this point in my life, I’ve been in several long-term relationships with fictional worlds.
[Piano music fades out]
But Harry Potter was my first love and my first break-up.
[“Hedwig’s Theme” plays]
It all started in first grade, when I first got my hands on the Sorcerer’s Stone. I was instantly hooked. Harry Potter solidified my love of reading; I was in awe of how you could build a whole world with just words on a page. It’s a big reason why I chose to study English in college.
Being a Potterhead was like a personality trait for me. Whenever I was asked for a fun fact about myself, I would always say I was a Ravenclaw. I would always get Harry Potter-themed gifts from my family because that was one thing they all knew I liked. And I can still recite the Sorting Hat song from the first book from memory.
[“Hedwig’s Theme” fades out]
But what really stuck with me about Harry Potter was its message. Voldemort, fueled by prejudice and selfishness, was defeated by love – love gave Harry and his allies the strength and motivation to fight the darkness. Harry Potter taught me how powerful love can be in the face of hate and how important and possible it is to fight injustice.
So, thanks to reading books like Harry Potter, when I learned about the existence of trans people, I had the empathy to recognize trans people as people who just want to be themselves and to identify the opposition they faced as hate and prejudice.
Which made it all the more ironic when the author (she-who-shall-not-be-named) showed her true, transphobic colors. At first, I tried to cling onto the books, to separate the art from the artist. The books belonged to us, the fans, not the author. But the author’s flaws opened my eyes to the books’ flaws. When I was a little kid, I didn’t think to question why the only Chinese character was named Cho Chang, or why villains like the Dursleys and Umbridge were characterized by their fatness or unattractiveness, or why most characters defended the slavery of house-elves. Eventually, the magic wore off. Harry Potter will always have a presence in my life because of how it defined my childhood, but Hogwarts is no longer really home.
Since then, I’ve found a home in so many other places, from Gotham to Gallifrey, from horror to Paramore, places where the creators are much more open to change than JKR. And in the end, the joke’s on her: all us fans will continue to use the lessons she taught us to fight transphobia and other forms of hate. After all, the weapon we have is love.
[“The Weapon” by Harry and the Potters plays]
This audio bio was written, recorded, and edited by Melissa Logan. The opening music is “A Fresh Start” from purple-planet.com, which is licensed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0. Other music featured in this audio bio is “Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams and “The Weapon” by Harry and the Potters, both used under Fair Use. To hear more from the team at Me/Us/U, check us out at me-us-u.org. Thanks for listening.
[“The Weapon” swells as the band sings “The weapon we have is love” repeatedly before fading to silence]