Daniel Radcliffe has said that adults need to “trust” transgender children when they “tell them who they are”.

The Harry Potter star made the remarks while hosting a roundtable discussion with transgender youths for LGBT+ suicide prevention nonprofit, Project Trevor.

Radcliffe has worked with Project Trevor for over a decade and was honored by the organization with a Hero Award in 2011.

While his latest remarks were misrepresented by some in the media as suggesting that parents should agree to their children’s immediate medical transitions, Radcliffe spent much of the discussion discussing it. Listen to young transgender people who have spent years waiting for hormone therapy and suffering from traumatic gender dysphoria. despised or ignored by their parents.

With the NHS in crisis, transgender healthcare is notoriously slow to reach in the UK and patients sometimes have to wait years for their first appointment. The need for gender identity treatment of those under the age of 18 has increased in recent years, a trend that many attribute to growing awareness and acceptance by the younger demographic. Minors are not allowed to undergo surgical reassignment, but may be prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as long as they meet a strict set of criteria.

In the video shot for the new YouTube series of Project Trevor Shared spaceRadcliffe also criticized the “contempt” attitude of adults when it comes to transgender children.

The actor said: “There are some people in the world who are not trying to enter this conversation in any good faith.

“I think most of the time it’s because people don’t know a young transgender person so they just have a theoretical idea of ​​this in their head.”

During the session, Radcliffe heard several transgender youths describe their experiences growing up as transgender. The entire video can be viewed This.

Radcliffe’s comments and participation in the event garnered praise on social media, while others continued to accuse him of “betraying” JK Rowling.

Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, has faced heavy criticism from many in the LGBT+ community for her repeated remarks about transgender people.

Radcliffe and other stars of the Harry Potter film adaptation, including Emma Watson, shied away from the point of view of the author, who denied that she suffers from metabolic phobia.

In 2020, Radcliffe wrote an essay advocating for the transgender community while addressing Rowling’s comments.

“To all those who currently feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you.

“The reason I feel very, very much like I need to say something in doing so is because, especially since finishing Potter, I have met so many gay and transgender children and young people have a lot of identification with Potter on that one.”

“And so, seeing them hurt that day, I wanted them to know that not everyone on the series felt the same way. And that’s really important.”