wizardoutofoz:

Hedwig (the owl) was trans and I can prove it.

First off, consider that I had to specify I was talking about an owl, because Hedwig the human is famously very angry about their complicated gender identity in the broadway show Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Only male snowy owls have pure white plumage, like she is described as having.

“But she’s a magical owl! They could be different”

No, no, you see, the only differences between magical versions of normal animals like rats and owls and cats that we are told about are increased intelligence and increased lifespan.

We can say that all pure white snowy owls irl are male, because snowy owls haven’t socially constructed the idea of gender, so their maleness is just a descriptor of their sexual organs.

But owls with more intelligence, and a closer relationship to human social structures? No one is going to say the owls in Harry Potter don’t have unique identities, and Hedwig is particularly self assured.

Occam’s razor suggests that the simplest solution is most often the correct one. You don’t have to make up any oddly specific facts about how every magical snowy owl is pure white. You don’t have to make up anything at all to know Hedwig is trans. Just look at what’s there and it’s clear.

You are allowed to imagine, however:

The scenes in the pet shop when Hedwig bit everyone all the time and no one could figure out why “he” was so terrible.

Until a tiny black haired kid with glasses who doesn’t know anything about the anatomy of white owls goes “oh she’s so pretty!” and Hedwig falls instantly in love with him. Shop keepers rush up in shock, saying “oh wow! He usually bites every-OW!” And getting cut off when the yet-unnamed owl turns on them viciously.

“Oh, it’s a boy?” Asks the naive young Harry, making the owl scream in anger, only for Hagrid, who reads animals better than anyone and always treats them like people, to get a hunch and ask the owl if she is a girl. Hedwig hoots happily and nibbles Hagrid’s ear as the bewildered staff try to insist otherwise. Hagrid doesn’t even entertain those idiots, isn’t it clear this owl is a girl? She just TOLD them she was!

Harry asks if he can hold her with wonder, and exits the pet shop that day with his first real friend, and the best birthday present ever.

This is not shown, even though it IS relevant to Harry’s journey. This segment of the book is all about the colorful characters and wonderful sights he encounters in his first trip into the wizarding world. Establishing that magical animals have strong anthropomorphic personalities and identities would add to this atmosphere. It would help establish an iconic side character. It would build on Hagrid’s “rough but kind, and competent in his own way” characterization in this segment of the book, and introduce his way with ferocious animals earlier than in the original. Introducing his actual skills here would only aid in coloring him as the literally larger than life hero Harry paints him as in this segment.

Instead the scene just cuts to after the pet shop. Skipping all the absolutely true things about Hedwig’s trans identity.

For the final, irrefutable proof?

Hedwig is killed off for absolutely no plot relevant reason. She has to be LGBT.

Thank you, now you know that despite JKR Harry Potter featured the first transgender owl in literary history. Landmark.

(The best correction I could receive on this post would be an earlier example of a transgender owl in literature, somebody please)