JK ROWLING has celebrated the Supreme Court's historic ruling yesterday that trans women are not legally women with a cigar and a cocktail on a luxury yacht.
The Harry Potter author, 59, shared a picture on X of her indulging in the luxuries after the decision was reached, saying: “I love it when a plan comes together”.
Judges ruled that the terms “women” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex in the ground-breaking Supreme Court decision.
The author had also posted on X in light of the announcement, suggesting her and her husband were clinking glasses of champagne following the ruling.
Her smoking selfie was captioned: “I love it when a plan comes together,” and has hashtags for the Supreme Court and for women's rights.
Rowling also hit back at those who suggested she was smoking a “blunt”, which is associated with cannabis use.
She said: “To those celebrating the fact that I'm smoking a blunt: it's a cigar.
“Even if it decided to identify as a blunt for the purposes of this celebration, it would remain objectively, provably and demonstratively a cigar.”
Rowling told commenters in replies that the photo had been taken by one of her daughters as she sipped on an “Old Fashioned” cocktail.
On Wednesday evening, she had also shared a photo on X which appeared to show two glasses of prosecco under a sunny canopy, as she toasted to the ruling with her husband Neil.
Alongside the picture, she wrote: “We toasted you @ForWomenScot. Neil says it’s TERF VE Day [laughing emoji] #SupremeCourt #WomensRights”.
The term “TERF” is used to describe people whose views on gender identity are seen as hostile towards transgender people.
Rowling has been a long standing advocate for women's group For Women Scotland, which she is also believed to have backed with funding.
It was this group which also launched a long-running legal battle with the Scottish government over how a “woman” was defined in Scottish law.
The Scottish government had argued people with gender recognition certificates (GRCs) should be protected from sex-based discrimination, meaning a transwoman would be considered a woman.
However, campaign group For Women Scotland claimed this only applied to people born as a female.
Now, the Supreme Court's landmark judgement ruled that it was unanimously determined “sex is binary” and that female-only spaces must be protected on the basis of biology.
Following yesterday's judgement, a top legal expert declared places reserved for women must shut out all blokes — including trans women.
Naomi Cunningham, barrister and chair of campaign group Sex Matters, said: “It is now clear that in any situation in which it is lawful to operate a single-sex or separate-sex service for women, it is not merely lawful but compulsory to exclude all men.
“And ‘men’ for these purposes includes trans women, whether or not they hold gender recognition certificates (GRCs).
“The same is true in reverse of single-sex or separate-sex services for men.”;
Bev Jackson, co-founder of LGB Alliance, said the decision wipes out “any semblance”; of doubt about whether males can join women’s spaces.
She said: “The legal definition of ‘woman’ is clear now. This means that any club, association or other group of any size — for example, a lesbian social club — can now legally operate on a single-sex basis.”;
