Transgender Paralympian fires back at JK Rowling, says critical comments rooted in 'transphobia'

Valentina Petrillo, a transgender Paralympian who competed against women at the Paralympic Games in Paris, fired back at criticism levied from J.K. Rowling for participating in the event.

Petrillo’s eligibility on the women’s side of the Paralympics in Paris caused backlash in the weeks leading up to the Games. Petrillo competed in the T12 400-meter sprint. The Italian runner was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition known as Stargardt disease as a teenager and began transitioning from male to female in 2019.

The “Harry Potter” author wrote on X last week that Petrillo was cheating. Petrillo fired back in an interview with The Times of London.

“JK Rowling is only concerned about the fact that I use the female toilet, but she doesn’t know anything about me,” Petrillo told the outlet.

Petrillo blamed the criticism on a world allegedly rooted in “prejudice and transphobia.”

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Valentina Petrillo prepares to compete at the Stade de France Stadium, during the Paris Paralympics, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Jackson Ranger)

While World Athletics banned trans athletes from competing in women’s events if they transitioned after puberty last year, World Para Athletics still allows transgender athletes to participate as long as they declare that their gender identity for sporting purposes is female and provide evidence that their testosterone levels have been below 10 nanomoles per liter of blood for at least 12 months prior to their first competition. 

“Since 2015, when the IOC opened the Olympics to transgender people, there has only been one person who competed, Laurel Hubbard,” Petrillo added. “And there has only been one [openly transgender] person that has participated at the Paralympics, me. So all of this fear that trans people will destroy the world [of women’s sport] actually does not exist.

“People said [lots of] men would go to compete as women just so they could win, but that has not happened at all. It is just transphobia.”

Rowling fired back at Petrillo after the interview was published.

J. K. Rowling arrives for the Guinness Six Nations match at the Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, on Feb. 24, 2024. (Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

“Yeah, no. That’s not the only thing I, or any of the other millions of women concerned about the destruction of female categories, boundaries and rights, are concerned about,” she wrote on X.

Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.

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