When Your Heroes Become Monsters

I didn't want to believe

The rumors,

The gossip,

The accusations,

The controversy.

/

You were once a shining beacon

That was dimming

When I discovered

The darkness --

The poison within you.

/

I feel so betrayed

So ashamed...

The magical world

I escaped in as a child

Was crumbling

Because the real villain

Was you all along.

/

I'm not even trans

But I am offended by you.

Using your talent

To lace each word

With thorns

To strike at the hearts

Of innocent people.

/

They say you should

"Never meet your heroes,"

Because you forget

In your admiration

That they are human

And subject

To human follies.

/

Your books used to lift me

Out of the deepest of miseries

Like a lifejacket thrown

To me drowning in the sea.

Now I look at each title

On my shelf

With a lump in my throat

Knowing that they were forever ruined.

/

Your books taught me

The power of love --

How ironic that seems now...

That love has left you

And rendered you

So void of compassion.

/

The actors who brought

Your characters to life

Decry your antics...

Yet you cling to the notion

That your unfounded assumptions

Are valid reasons to hate.

/

How is it that a woman

That designed characters

Who fought against bigotry

Within the wizarding world

Should become the most bigoted?

/

You have ruined my childhood

And countless lives of trans people

Who live in fear

Because you have vilified them

And deemed them inferior.

/

When heroes become monsters,

Every aspect of their work

Is picked apart

And examined at face value.

Even those seven books

Are not immune

From scrutiny.

/

I want to believe

That you'll see reason

And you'll make amends

For this crusade you've ignited.

But you have broken the hearts

Of Potterheads everywhere

With your senseless hate.