Transgender ideology, whether it amounts to a mental illness or a sexual fetish, leaves women and children vulnerable.
From the perspective of a few transgender-aligned predators, that seems to be the point.
Monday on the social media platform X, “Harry Potter” author and women’s advocate J.K. Rowling, a frequent target of abuse from transgender activists and others of like mind, noted that one of her regular critics on the platform, a man named Stephen Ireland, now faces a lengthy jail sentence for raping a child.
“Stephen Ireland, who targeted me with endless abuse on here because I oppose the chemical castration of children and the removal of protected spaces for women and girls, has just been sentenced to 30 years in jail for child rape,” Rowling wrote.
Stephen Ireland, who targeted me with endless abuse on here because I oppose the chemical castration of children and the removal of protected spaces for women and girls, has just been sentenced to 30 years in jail for child rape. pic.twitter.com/0HHctRocB4
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 30, 2025
According to the U.K.’s Independent, Ireland, who co-founded the LGBT group “Pride” in Surrey, England, received only a 13-year prison sentence on Monday.
As often happens, however, Rowling had it right.
Ireland, in fact, faces “24 years in prison, with a further six on extended licence,” per the Surrey Police.
Should child sex offenders face some of the harshest legal penalties?
A 30-year sentence for child rape sounds a lot more like justice than does a 13-year sentence.
Ireland met the victim, a 12-year-old boy known in court as “Child A,” on the dating app Grindr. Initially, the boy gave his age as 17. But when he later claimed to be only 13, Ireland said, “OK — we just have to keep it a secret,” per the Independent.
On Apr. 19, 2024, Ireland raped the boy at the flat he shared with 27-year-old David Sutton, Ireland’s partner at the time and now co-defendant, who faces four-and-a-half years in prison for related crimes, including “possession and distribution of prohibited images of children.”
On Monday, Judge Patricia Lees chided Ireland for targeting an “extremely vulnerable child.”
“Any responsible adult would have quickly appreciated that there was a high likelihood A is a young man who had been the subject of sexual grooming by adult men at a very early age and been concerned for him instead of taking advantage of him,” the judge said.
According to the BBC, Ireland was convicted of the crime in March.
Debbie White, head of Surrey Police’s public protection team, referred to Ireland at the time as a “sexual predator who targeted a young boy and took advantage of his age and vulnerability for his own gratification.”
Meanwhile, this “sexual predator” and groomer of children posed as Rowling’s moral superior on X.
The author, of course, has taken strong stances against transgender ideologues’ crusade to eradicate women’s-only spaces.
In response to one comment on her post, she also posited a connection between sex crimes and transgender ideology.
“Are you suggesting sexual predators would stampede to embrace a movement intent on removing protections for women and children? Can’t see it, myself,” she wrote in sarcasm while providing a graphic that identified multiple examples.
Are you suggesting sexual predators would stampede to embrace a movement intent on removing protections for women and children? Can’t see it, myself. pic.twitter.com/K7Ub6Q67lC
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 1, 2025
In short, Ireland faces a lengthy prison sentence for the violent abuse of a child, but the crime for which he was convicted differs only in degree from the moral crimes for which he advocated, such as the chemical castration of confused children. Rowling was right to draw a connection between the two.
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