Carla Antonelli flips off JK Rowling in social media video against UK trans ruling
"I just entered the toilets of my sex: woman"
By Aaron Sugg
Spain’s first out trans senator and prominent trans rights advocate Carla Antonelli posted to Instagram today (21 July), making a middle finger gesture toward author JK Rowling while inside the toilets at Gatwick Airport in London.
The PEUGEOT Attitude PRIDE Awards Europe 2025, supported by British Airways winner posted the video in response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s proposed bathroom ban, limiting trans people accessing single-sex spaces, including public bathrooms.
In the video, Antonelli expresses her frustration with the current legal climate: “According to English law, I have just broken the law. I just entered the toilets of my sex: woman. But I’m going back in, because I’m very fond of breaking the rules. Now I’m going to wash my hands.”
The clip is set to Lily Allen’s 2008 song ‘Fuck You’, and ends with Antonelli holding up her middle finger to the camera as she washes her hands.
The Instagram caption reads: “#FuckRowling [magic wand emoji] At Gatwick Airport in London.”
Antonelli, a trans actress-turned-politician, made headlines earlier this year for a viral speech delivered in the Spanish Parliament, which was shared to social media.
In the speech, she said: “Trans people – we are everyone’s topic of conversation. Everyone has to have an opinion about us. If we are trans, what we are, what we are not.”
“Our existence is being used to cover up what should really matter to the world”
Speaking to Attitude earlier this year, she told us: “The reality is, our existence is being used to cover up what should really matter to the world… We, as trans people, are the perfect smokescreen.” She demands the world “open its eyes”.
Fellow trans activist, India Willoughby, Britain’s first transgender newsreader also posted to social media today, reiterating that the UK trans community will not accept the legal and political developments that undermine their rights, particularly the UK Supreme Court ruling of the definition of ‘sex’.
Antonelli, who met India the evening prior to the PEUGEOT Attitude PRIDE Awards Europe 2025, supported by British Airways commented under the video in solidarity [below].
“What has become clear, dear India, is that social transphobia is now a reality – driven by opportunists and cowards who lack the courage to defend human rights and the principles of the political ideologies they claim to represent. We expect nothing from the right and the far-right, but it will be history that judges the opportunism of those in left-wing parties who have sold their souls to the devil. In the meantime, I assure you, we will not forget how they turned their backs on us in exchange for a handful of votes from TERFs and transphobes. And yes, we will never, ever, ever accept rules and rulings rotten with hate.”
This comes just days before London Trans+ Pride, where Antonelli showed her support for the UK trans community by donating £1,000 to help fund activities on Saturday (26 July).