Taking legal action against British writer J.K. Rowling under the UK’s anti-discrimination laws is a possible option for Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷), and the government should not hesitate to stop radical gender discrimination, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) yesterday, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators also criticized Rowling for her critical comments of Lin.
Lin and Algerian Imane Khelif, also a boxer, are at the center of a row over their participation in the Paris Olympics after previously being disqualified from last year’s World Championships in New Delhi.
Both were cleared to fight in Paris.
Photo: AP
“What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?” Rowling wrote on X on Friday.
Wang said that Lin’s eligibility to participate in the 2022 Asian Games in China and the Paris Olympics was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as well as Paris Games and Asian Games organizers.
It is unthinkable that Lin still faces verbal abuse and Internet bullying, Wang said.
No Taiwanese should stand by seeing Lin having to shoulder the tremendous stress of participating in a prestigious international competition while being the subject of Rowling’s abuse and bullying, he added.
Should Lin be willing to take legal action against Rowling, “we will demand that the government fully assist her in such endeavors and be her shield,” he said.
Lin started boxing due to a desire to protect her mother, Wang said, adding that Taiwanese are willing to give her all the encouragement and backing she needs.
Taking legal action would also deter countries with radical gender discrimination from bullying or being prejudiced against Asian athletes, he said.
KMT Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said that Rowling should be more capable than others at discerning the truth and reality of issues, and yet she has not sought the truth among falsehoods.
She has gone against the spirit of her Harry Potter series and has instead chosen to be like Muggles and Voldemort, only willing to believe in themselves and ignoring love and truth, Hsu said.
KMT Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽) said Rowling’s comments serve only to incite confrontation and misunderstanding, and are not conducive to the Olympic spirit.
Sports fans at a Taipei bar on Friday were also supportive of Lin, who won a fight against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.
“She hasn’t done anything wrong, that’s the way she is — it’s unnecessary to attack her appearance,” computer engineer Hannah Huang said.
Tracy Wu, who said that she does not watch boxing, but has followed the controversy, attributed the online hatred to Lin being the top seed.
“Everyone feels particularly threatened by her, so that may be why they attack her,” Wu said.
Separately, IOC president Thomas Bach told a conference in Paris that the “hate speech” directed at Lin and Khelif was “totally unacceptable.”
“We will not take part in a politically motivated ... cultural war,” Bach said.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams has warned against turning the row into a “witch hunt.”
“I should make this absolutely clear to everyone: This is not a transgender issue. These women have been competing in competitions for many years,” he said. “This involves real people and we’re talking about real people’s lives here.”
Additional reporting by AP and AFP
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