JK Rowling Beira Place: what is new centre for women affected by sexual violence - does it exclude trans women

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has founded a new support service in Edinburgh for women who have experienced sexual violence, called Beira’s Place. The launch of the centre comes shortly before final vote on the Scottish government’s plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act, of which Rowling has been an outspoken critic.

Over the course of the last few years specifically, Rowling has come under fire repeatedly for comments made about the transgender community, with many concerned about trans women in Edinburgh who will be excluded from accessing the services at Beira’s Place.

What is Beira’s Place?

Beira’s Place is a new service for women who have experience sexual violence. It will offer free support and help for women aged 16 or over within the Edinburgh area, and is set to open on an appointment-only basis in the New Year.

The service has been set up by Rowling and a board of directors including former prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss, ex-Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, GP Margaret McCartney and director of For Women Scotland Susan Smith. The service will be run by paid staff, headed up by CEO ISabelle Kerr and deputy Susan Domminney.

According to the website, Beira’s Place has been set up “in response to demand from female survivors for a women-only service, as one is currently not available in the area”. It explains that as a “women only service”, this means that if you contact Beira’s Place, “the first person you speak to will be a woman, any support you receive will be from a woman and you can be guaranteed that when you visit out centre everyone in the building will be women”

In a statement, Rowling said: “As a survivor of sexual assault myself, I know how important it is that survivors have the option of women-centred and women-delivered care at such a vulnerable time. Beira’s Place will offer an increase in capacity for services in the area and will, I hope, enable more women to process and recover from their trauma.”

Why is it being criticised?

Beira’s Place has been criticised for a number of reasons, with many branding the service as transphobic for excluding trans women. In the past, Rowling has repeatedly been labelled as a “TERF”, which stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, due to the things that she has said about the transgender community. As a result, over the years, many celebrities have distanced themselves from Rowling, including Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

When asked if Beira’s Place would support trans women who are victims of sexual assault, as reported by the Edinburgh Evening News, a Beira’s Place spokesperson said: “We believe that women deserve to have certainty that, in using our services, they will not encounter anyone who is male. Where appropriate, we will refer men or individuals identifying as trans women to other appropriate services.”

Hotchkiss’ involvement in the service has also been criticised. At an event for For Women Scotland in 2020, Hotchkiss said that “trans women are not a subset of women, they are a subset of men” and has also been a spokesperson for the LGB Alliance, which is an organisation founded in opposition to the policies of LGBT rights charity Stonewall on transgender issues.

She has also made a number of transphonic tweets as well, including one from 2019 which said that “the vast majority of transwomen are still clearly and obviously men”.

Hotchkiss was previously the prison governor for HM Prison Cornton Vale, a women’s prison situated in Stirling. In 2019, Europe’s anti-tortue watchdog described conditions in Scotland’s overcrowded prisons as an emergency situation, with the report specifically condemning the treatment of inmates at Cornton Vale, whilst Hotchkiss was governor.

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) said that in Cornton Vale, there were “women who clearly were in need of urgent care and treatment in a psychiatric facility, and [who] should not have been in a prison environment”.

Prior to Hotchkiss’ appointment as governor at Cornton Vale, the prison had been declared to be in a “state of crisis” in 2010 by Brigadier Hugh Munro, the Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland. While Hotchkiss said in 2016 that “this is not a prison in crisis”, David Strang, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland at the time found during an inspection that some prisoners told inspectors that they had been told by staff to “pee in the sink” when access to a toilet was not available.

Strang said: “This is wholly unacceptable in the 21st century. As a matter of urgency, alternative measures need to be put in place to ensure that prisoners have unrestricted access to toilet facilities.”

Strang’s report also warned that many of the inmates spoken to during the inspection visit had no confidence in the prison complaints system, and were “afraid to make a complaint for fear of the consequences”.

What are people saying about it?

On Twitter, reaction to the news from Rowling has been mixed, with some applauding the Harry Potter author for funding the centre, and others criticising it for excluding trans women.

One person wrote: “I think it’s actually quite telling as to the vindictive nature of JK Rowling that she’s had the means, resources and power to set up a crisis centre for over 20 years, and she’s only decided to do it now so she can use it as some bizarre point scoring against trans victims.”

Another tweeted: “JK Rowling’s hot new shelter is run by, *checks note”, someone who ran a prison which was slammed for allowing abuse against women… This is going precisely as terribly as we all knew it would.”

“It also feels worth mentioning that this new service owned and funded by JK Rowling is not registered with the Charity Commission, there appears to be no body they are registered with to provide oversight, nobody to hold them accountable should things go badly,” wrote another.