Imagine a world with us included

The idea of waiting for your owl to arrive to say “yes you belong somewhere” is powerful. And it was something that gave many of my younger friends so much support when they were struggling with that “I am different” sensation. But with all the noise around the author’s statements, can we still read Harry Potter?

The response to this question that I have loved the most was in 2018. Back then, the author suggested it was a “middle-aged moment” that led her to like anti-trans sentiments on twitter. The drag community I am a part of (which is very trans, queer and non-binary inclusive) decided to do a Harry Potter themed night.

The performers took all the characters, tropes and bits we loved and remixed and reimagined them to be more inclusive. Once, you’ve seen Cheryl Hole as a Basilisk rolling around on the floor, seen Me the Drag Queen lip syncing to clips from the film reworking gender, heroism and identity and Lilly SnatchDragon, an East-Asian performer, explicitly calling out the racist stereotypes of Cho Chang, you can no longer read or imagine the original work in the same way.

For this we do not have to reread the books. Or engage the author. We take the world and make it ours. We imagine the world, take ownership from the author and make the characters, the entire world, ours. Because the original is missing something important. Us. Those of us who are just not represented in the original - LGB, queer, racially diverse, disabled, and , trans and non-binary people.

We can remix, refine, and reimagine the world the way it should have always been - inclusive of all of us.