Thanks for writing this! I'm a gay Harry Potter fan but not at all a Rowling fan. I find the two positions can co-exist okay (if uneasily) within myself.

For one thing, I met Harry Potter because of the child my gay partner and I raised together before Rowling had finished writing the series.

"Brent" had overlapping, quite serious mental health diagnoses resulting from abuse and neglect early in life. He was significantly disabled besides hating to read books. I feared his functional illiteracy (He COULD read but with difficulty and only when forced) narrowed his personal universe and would present him with even more challenges than he already faced.

Then he fell in love with the Harry Potter series. I don't know why. Maybe he got caught up in all the hype? I do remember standing in line with him for a midnight book release once. But I think what he really loved was the story.

As an abandoned, neglected child, he related to Harry. When he came to live with us, I think that was his personal Hogwarts. We recognized his special abilities and talents, nurtured them, and praised him.

As he devoured the books, with difficulty at first, then with greater ease, he gained more confidence in himself and with the promise of a fulfilling, happy life despite his rocky start.

Some of that was most likely coincidental, and I won't say the books are responsible. But they played a part. And I'm happy they did.

I don't even like writing the author's name anymore, often referring to her ironically as "She who must not be named."

But as you write, she is not her art.

Her art helped my child, and for that reason, I love her art, even though I despise her transphobic views.