Salman Rushdie makes gender reassignment warning
British Indian writer Salman Rushdie (L) speaks as French journalist Audrey Pulvar and French economist and President of the Foundation Planet Positive Jacques Attali (both unseen) listen on during the opening day of the Positive Economy Forum in Le Havre, northwestern France on September 13, 2016. / AFP / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU (Photo credit should read CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images)
Promoting his new book, famed author Salman Rushdie has issued a warning about gender reassignment.
The Satanic Verses author voiced concerns about “very young people” transitioning.
The 70-year-old is promoting his new novel The Golden House, which deals with the issue of gender identity.
Rushdie says he became interested in the topic as he has two close friends who have transitioned and that he took a trip to India to write about the trans community there.
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 01: Novelist Salman Rushdie attends The Berggruen Institute’s 2016 Berggruen Prize Award Ceremony held at the New York Public Library on December 1, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Brent N. Clarke/WireImage)
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Speaking to the Press Association, he said: “There are two people I know quite closely who have transitioned… One in each direction… and in both cases these have been very successful.
“Both people seemed to me much happier now than they were before.”
Adding: “I have quite strong views about the over-insistence on these issues, particularly when you get down to very young people.
“If there’s a boy who likes playing with dolls and wearing pink shirts it shouldn’t necessarily mean that he has to have gender reassignment surgery.
“Until quite recently that would never have occurred to anyone, so I think we maybe need to just back off a little bit.”
But the author said he did not want to be “stupidly judgemental” about the issue in his novel.
He added that he is “not hostile to it” given close friends who have transitioned, just that he “worries about it”.
The novel follows fictional character Nero Golden set against the time period of Barack Obama’s US Presidential victory through to Donald Trump’s election win.
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Trump, he says, would not have been featured until he “forced himself into the narrative”.
In the PA interview, Rushdie adds that he is worried for Britain after Brexit happens.
Back in 2014, Rushdie was one of more than 200 authors who signed a letter protesting Russia’s anti-LGBT+ law.
Signed into law by President Vladimir Putin back in 2013, it bans the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors.
British Indian writer Salman Rushdie (L) speaks as French journalist Audrey Pulvar and French economist and President of the Foundation Planet Positive Jacques Attali (both unseen) listen on during the opening day of the Positive Economy Forum in Le Havre, northwestern France on September 13, 2016. / AFP / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU (Photo credit should read CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images)
Rushdie’s approach has been a lot more reasoned than others such as Germaine Greer.
The feminist writer has for years attacked trans women, infamously saying that “lopping off your d**k and wearing a dress doesn’t make you a f**king woman”.
She most recently attacked a Cambridge University college for new rules to ensure transgender women are welcome.
