One of the major trends of the Hogwarts Legacy launch has been people buying the game, then donating the cost of the game to an LGBT charity, as if to buy back goodwill. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way. As I and many other trans people have stressed repeatedly, the money has never been the point - Harry Potter creator Rowling is already rich. Buying the game is a signal, to Warner Bros. and to other companies watching on, that transphobia is not a dealbreaker for you. It’s not a line in the sand they can’t cross, and that makes trans people less safe than ever. If you’ve bought the game, you can’t undo that, but let’s look at some material good you can do.
Think of this as an olive branch. Though some people have leapt on the game as a right wing dog whistle, celebrating its sales as a blow to all things woke, I know a lot of you wrestled with the choice of whether to support the game or miss out on both a return to your childhood and the New Big Thing. I’m disappointed by what path you have chosen and you don’t get to have everyone think you’re a good person while making the more selfish choice. But this does not need to be the end. If you’re looking for ways to offer material help to trans people, there are a variety of ways you can do it.
Donate
Giving the price of Hogwarts Legacy to The Trevor Project because it was the first charity that came up when you Googled ‘LGBT charities’ or because you heard a streamer mention it is a start, but if you’re only doing it as a form of absolution it’s not really charity. LGBT charities are underfunded and under-supported, and those that specialise in transgender care suffer the most. I’m not asking for the price of a video game every week or every month, but if you really care about trans people and aren’t just using it as a one-time get-out-of-TERF-jail-free-card to make playing Hogwarts Legacy A-Okay, consider donating more often.
Personally, Mermaids is closest to my heart because I know how hostile the environment is for young trans kids in the UK and for Mermaids themselves. Find a charity you care about for reasons other than a streamer mentioning its name and set up a small monthly donation.
Support Trans Art
Charity is not the only way to put your money where your mouth is, and it might not even be the most effective. Trans people create wonderful, vibrant, powerful art, but it often can’t get a look in because corporate behemoths side with transphobes and too many of you go along with it. Current itch bundle Trans Witches Are Witches is the best starting point, but if you really care about trans people, actively seeking out our stories and creations is a direct way to show that support.
Write To Your Government
If you live in the US, there’s a good chance your state has either passed some anti-trans legislation in the past few months or is considering it in the next few months. They very well might have spun this as protection for children, but given that Wyoming’s government is trying to block the outlawing of child marriage and Iowa and Minnesota are trying to roll back child labour laws to allow 14 year olds to work in meat packing, maybe that’s a lie. Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, is even on the record saying the elimination of all trans people is the goal, but that kids make easy targets.
In the UK, the press continues to be obsessed with trans people, although only when it suits them. Two weeks ago the BBC website had six front page stories in one day about trans women in female prisons. There are five such cases in the UK - that’s one more story than there are prisoners. Meanwhile, transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was murdered in the UK in a targeted attack by two cisgender teenagers at the weekend - four of the UK’s five biggest press outlets did not mention that she was trans, and the fifth used the headline to stress that her transness was not important.
I know it seems like we’re loud and ‘ugh, so annoying’ when we ask you not to play a video game set 150 years before some books you thought were neat when you were a teenager, but at a legislative level we’re outnumbered by people who hate us. If you want to show you support us, this is the most powerful (and cheapest) way to do it. We need you with us. If you tweeted or told others that you unequivocally support trans people as justification for buying Hogwarts Legacy, it’s time to prove it. Write to your Senator or MP and tell them you oppose anti-trans legislation. They represent you and your views, so make them known.
Listen And Uplift
Similar to buying art directly from trans people, listening to us is all we want a lot of the time. Clearly we see the Hogwarts Legacy issue differently, and I’m not sure I’d find your argument all that convincing. But while a lot of our detractors have tried to spin the game as us making a big deal out of something trivial, it only seems that way because we’re listened to so rarely. We have always spoken up about far more influential news stories that damage us, but no one bothered listening. You ignored it. It didn’t impact you, you didn’t want to say the wrong thing, it wasn’t your place. Only Hogwarts Legacy got you in the ring.
As hostility and hate towards trans people continues to rise, we will need cisgender allies to support us and fight for us. We’ll need you to speak up. It’s far more helpful than pledging $70 to a charity you just Googled.
Stop Supporting Harry Potter
Look, you got your video game. I’m sure it was everything you dreamed of, even though none of the characters you’ve met before are there. You only get to use the ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this!’ line once. Any future movies, toys, merch, Lego sets, or (if she gives up on her Twitter obsessed crime novels) books can’t be met with such a fight from you. It probably shouldn’t have been this time.