Trans Youth Activists attempt to climb The Cursed Child theatre in protest: 'Stop Funding Transphobia!'

LONDON, 29 AUGUST, 5:50PM: four young activists from Trans Kids Deserve Better attempted to scale the Palace Theatre, where Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is currently playing. They gave speeches on the ground imploring the public to stop funding J.K Rowling.

Whilst the kids couldn't make it up to the awning, they managed to make their speeches on the ground. However, they had a stabbing threat by a member of the public, who was subsequently arrested by the police. Kellie-Jay Nyishie Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker, a prominent transphobe and leader of the Party of Women, also turned up and started to film the kids.

TKDB took this action because for the last five years, the Harry Potter author has used her fame to spread anti-trans vitriol, both online and through her financial power. In 2025, she donated £70,000 to For Women Scotland. This organisation challenged the Scottish government's gender guidance, ultimately leading to the Supreme Court decision that trans women would not be considered women. In June of this year, she also set up the 'JK Rowling Women's Fund', which provides funding from her own private wealth exclusively to cis women seeking legal cases against trans women. While she hides behind the guise of 'women's rights', it seems to us that this is a thinly veiled front for her transphobia. Feminism should not require the demonisation of one marginalised group in order to protect another.

In their speeches, the activists begged the public to stop funding her: through buying tickets for The Cursed Child, watching the films, purchasing the books or streaming the upcoming series, money is being funnelled directly into transphobic enterprises. JKR is not protecting women through her transphobia, but instead endangering countless trans individuals, including kids. She is pushing the world, both on a social and legislative level, to erase us from existence.

One activist, Vex, said in their speech: "All we want is the freedom to grow up, free from discrimination or oppressive legislation. JK Rowling has not listened, and is creating a world where we can't grow up at all."

Another activist, Keys, said: "JK Rowling's comments and financial backing have fostered an environment that is dangerous for both cis and trans women. The day society stops funding Harry Potter is the day we stop funding threats towards women of all kinds."

The activists left the scene after being threatened to be stabbed. In the meantime, ask yourself what you can do to help. You can start very simply: stop funding transphobia. Trans Kids Deserve Better.

Preview image not of the action