The town of Gibsons, British Columbia, has posted an apology on the town's Facebook page after a Harry Potter-themed Halloween display "raised concerns among some members of our community.""We understand that the Harry Potter series has become a difficult subject for many, particularly transgender people, because of the public statements and actions of its author. While the display was intended as a fun Halloween theme, we recognize that it carries different meanings for different people," the town wrote on Facebook on Sunday."We apologize to those who felt hurt as a result.".Despite the innocuous theme, some residents took offence to the usage of Harry Potter due to the comments of J.K. Rowling, the author of the book series, regarding transgender people.Rowling has been outspoken about her belief that biological sex is immutable and that treating male-to-female transgender people as biological women is illogical and harmful to biological women."This seems more like the town capitalizing on the popularity of the Timmies tie-in, then [sic] caring about their vulnerable communities and harm. As someone who is transgender, I appreciate their apology, but this was a lot more elaborate than I expected," wrote one commentator on the town's initial post showing off the display..Other residents expressed their annoyance at the apology, saying that those complaining should be applauding the creativity of the organizers rather than complaining about the author's politics."Really everyone… lets get over ourselves and just recognize what a phenomenal crew we have in our town working on all our common spaces… We enjoyed it for what it was… completely entertaining. We never even considered jk Rowling! Rather than taking issue with the author we should be applauding the sheer creativity of the display," wrote one respondent.Some residents even expressed their befuddlement as to what the controversy was about, with many not even knowing who J.K. Rowling is."We walked by the display yesterday and were happy that the town took the time and effort to have some fun. The owls were especially inventive. I'm not sure about what is causing the controversy," wrote one resident.Despite the apology, a vast majority of the comments and responses from locals regarding the display seem to be positive, with only a small minority making comments upset at the usage of Rowling's content.The town stated that in the future they will "take the feedback received into consideration when planning future Town displays and activities."
