(LifeSiteNews) –– Famed U.K.-based author J.K. Rowling recently got involved in local Canadian politics, defending a conservative politician in Alberta for refusing to bend to the demands of an LGBT activist.
The incident concerns Alberta Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Jennifer Johnson. In the lead-up to the 2023 election, she was a member of the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) but was kicked out of the party by Premier Danielle Smith after audio surfaced of her comparing transgender ideology in schools to adding feces to baked goods.
Despite being kicked out of the UCP, Johnson won her seat by a wide margin running as an independent.
On Tuesday, a video began to circulate on X showing an exchange between Johnson and biological male “Victoria Bucholtz,” who goes by the stage name “Karla Marx.”
Because of her past comments, Johnson recently agreed to meet with LGBT groups from her local community, via video conference, who wanted to speak with her about their “concerns.”
In the video, Bucholtz asked Johnson directly, “Will you state on the record right now ‘trans women are women?’”
In reply, Johnson said, “No, I want to have some time to think on that.”
The incident drew the attention of Rowling, who posted a link of the video observing, “You don’t even need to turn up the sound.”
Honestly, you don’t even need to turn up the sound. https://t.co/IwgYPfnZ8o
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 17, 2024
“It never seems to occur to them that there’s no bigger indicator of not being a woman than trying to bully people into agreeing you’re a woman,” she wrote in another post.
It never seems to occur to them that there’s no bigger indicator of not being a woman than trying to bully people into agreeing you’re a woman.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 17, 2024
Rowling observed that what Bucholtz, in speaking with Johnson, is doing, is the “equivalent of beginning a conversation on climate change with ‘unless you agree the earth is flat, I’m leaving.’”
Danielle Smith not behind meeting with Johnson and activist
LifeSiteNews was given information from a well-connected member of the UCP, who asked to not be named, that many MLAs in the party support Johnson and want her back in the party.
While Premier Danielle Smith has not yet let Johnson back into the UCP, she is reportedly warming up to the idea.
Johnson made it clear that contrary to rumors, it was not Smith who ordered her to attend the meeting with Bucholtz.
In a statement on Facebook Wednesday, Johnson said she needed to set things straight regarding her meeting with the pro-LGBT groups.
“This statement addresses the meeting between me, Jennifer Johnson, the Independent MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka, and the Lacombe Pride Society, Ponoka Pride Society, Central Alberta Pride Society, and multiple others. These societies requested a meeting with me, and I was happy to meet with them and hear their concerns as my constituents. I looked forward to a respectful and informative meeting with them,” she wrote.
Johnson said that the meeting was at the request and arranged by a “constituent of the Lacombe-Ponoka riding, and I was happy to accept their invitation to meet.”
“Danielle Smith, her office, and the UCP caucus and party were in no way involved in or aware of this meeting and, contrary to speculation, this meeting has nothing to do with my future as an Independent Member of the Legislature.”
Johnson said that she “supports” the work of Smith and her UCP government and looks “forward to working with all Members of the Legislature in the fall session on the Parental Rights legislation and other important bills.”
Rowling in recent years had to be on the defensive for saying gender-confused men who claim to be a woman are in fact men.
Earlier this year, Smith announced strong pro-family legislation that strengthens parental rights, protects kids from life-altering so-called “top and bottom” surgeries, as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.
Despite these steps, Smith still holds views at odds with social conservatives, telling Jordan Peterson that conservatives must embrace homosexual “couples” as “nuclear families.”