Rowling mocks Vancouver park board over Harry Potter apology

VANCOUVER — Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling says the Vancouver Parks Board's repudiation was not a “big blow” after its members voted unanimously to apologize for opening a Harry Potter event in Stanley Park next month.

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Rowling posted on social media a screenshot of board member Tom Digby's statement about how he disowned the author for her views on transgender issues.

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The British writer says she didn't know the council had “recognized” her and wrote that she would accept a “certificate of recognition” which she would frame above her computer and take a selfie with it.

The park's board voted unanimously Tuesday to apologize for the Harry Potter: The Forbidden Forest Experience event, which opens Nov. 7 in Stanley Park, after hearing from members of the Vancouver 2SLGBTQ+ advisory committee.

Digby says the proposal was intended to apologize for the harm caused to transgender people by hosting the event and to publicly disavow Rowling's political activities against their community.

He brought the motion to the board, saying it was a concrete move to show the board's position on “the lives and rights of transgender, gender-diverse and non-dichotomous people in Vancouver.”