To: Auraria Campus Leadership (AHEC), Tivoli Station Management, and Student Leaders at CU Denver, MSU Denver, and CCD.

What We Are Asking For
We ask Tivoli Station to stop buying and selling official Harry Potter merchandise (clothing, toys, mugs, and themed gifts).

Why This Matters

Financial Support for Anti-Trans Policies:  Buying official merchandise generates royalty money for author J.K. Rowling. She publicly uses her wealth and platform to fund anti-trans political campaigns and lobbying efforts in the UK that remove rights, safety, and healthcare for trans people. The most recent extreme anti-trans measures taken in the UK as a result of this anti-trans lobbying include:

• Spike in Hate Crimes: The continued amplification of anti-trans rhetoric by high-profile figures has coincided with a sharp, documented rise in anti-transgender hate crimes across the UK.
• Bathroom Restrictions: The UK government has banned transgender people from using public bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

• Restrictions on Youth Healthcare: The NHS in England has banned the evidence-based, safe prescription of puberty blockers and severely restricted access to gender-affirming care for minors. Restricting these youth services is linked to higher rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide.

• Regressive School Guidance: UK government guidance advises schools against socially transitioning students or allowing transgender students to use facilities and play sports that align with their gender identity.

• Blocking Gender Recognition Reform: The UK government used unprecedented executive powers to veto a Scottish bill that would have simplified the legal gender recognition process for transgender individuals.

• Lobbying to Alter the Equality Act: Organizations financially backed by Rowling are actively lobbying to rewrite the UK’s Equality Act to redefine "sex," which would legally strip transgender people of anti-discrimination protections in single-sex spaces.

• Prison Transfers: New policies in the UK and Scotland have mandated that transgender women be transferred to men's prisons.

Why Your Money Matters: 

J.K. Rowling uses the massive wealth she earns from the Harry Potter franchise (books, movies, games, and merchandise) to actively fund anti-transgender causes in the UK.

Here are some ways she uses her fortune and platform to promote the erosion of trans rights:

• Funding Anti-Trans Lawsuits: She created a legal fund to pay for court cases aimed at excluding trans women from single-sex spaces (like shelters and locker rooms) and stripping away their existing legal protections.
• Bankrolling Supreme Court Appeals: She donated £70,000 to For Women Scotland, a group fighting to legally redefine "woman" to exclude trans women. Her money single-handedly allowed them to take their fight to the UK Supreme Court.
• Creating Exclusionary Services: She founded and fully funds Beira’s Place, a sexual assault crisis center that explicitly bans transgender women from receiving help or working there. The exclusionary nature of this center is so severe that Amnesty International explicitly labeled Beira's Place as an "anti-rights" organization, though the report was retracted following intense legal threats and pressure from Rowling.
• Promoting Medical Misinformation: She frequently campaigns against gender-affirming care for minors, publicly stating that "there are no trans kids" and regularly equating life-saving trans healthcare and hormone therapy to "a new kind of conversion therapy" and "lobotomies."

The Connection to the Franchise
 Every time someone buys official merchandise, plays a Harry Potter video game, or visits the theme parks, Rowling earns royalties. She has stated publicly that she sees her continued financial success and the ongoing popularity of her franchise as proof that people support her political views.

Our Campus Values:
CU Denver, MSU Denver, and CCD promise to be safe and welcoming spaces for trans students. Selling products that enrich someone actively harming trans rights goes against those values.