Dana International sends J.K. Rowling ‘love and kisses’ after backlash

Israeli pop-star Dana International has defended J.K. Rowling after the Harry Potter author sparked a row with her comments about the transgender community.

The transgender singer sent Rowling “love and kisses from Israel” in an Instagram post, the newswire Reuters reported. “Sometimes the community goes to unnecessary wars with people who are totally with us,” the artist wrote.

Rowling, 54, recently drew criticism from some in the LGBT community as well as several Harry Potter cast members, including the Jewish actor Daniel Radcliffe.

The 30 year-old Hollywood star, who rose to fame after being cast in the leading role at the age of 11, expressed solidarity with the transgender community last week.

“Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I,” Radcliffe wrote.

The row began after Rowling took issue with a headline on an online article discussing “people who menstruate”, and said: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

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In December last year she had voiced her support for a researcher who was sacked after tweeting that transgender people cannot change their biological sex.

Critics accused her of being transphobic, an allegation Rowling strongly denies.

Then last week, Rowling shared a lengthy blog post on her website, in which she revealed that she was partly motivated to speak out because of her experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

“I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces,” she wrote.