JK Rowling parties in Bahamas on $150m superyacht after court ruling

JK Rowling has channelled the A-Team as she continued to celebrate a Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not legally women - posting a picture of herself puffing on a cigar on her $150million superyacht.

The Harry Potter author claimed yesterday's decision, which found the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, as a major victory for 'the rights of women and girls across the UK'.

The 59-year-old has been a vocal supporter of campaign group For Women Scotland, throwing her cultural and financial clout behind its long-running legal battle against the Scottish government over the definition of a 'woman' in Scottish law.

That paid dividends yesterday, when the judges unanimously ruled that the words 'sex', 'man' and 'woman' in the Equality Act must mean 'biological sex', sparking jubilant scenes outside the Supreme Court in London.

It means the legal definition of 'woman' only applies to those who were born female, and trans women do not have the right to use single-sex women-only spaces such as toilets or changing rooms.

While trans activists reacted with fury to the decision, branding it 'evil' and calling it a set back for transgender rights, Rowling and others took to social media to celebrate it as a victory for women ad common sense.

And after sharing a post on X, formerly Twitter, suggesting she and her husband were clinking glasses of Champagne after the ruling, she has now followed up with a selfie of her smoking on her boat which online trackers record as being near the Bahamas.

She accompanied it with the words: 'I love it when a plan comes together. #SupremeCourt #WomensRights.'

That was the catchphrase of the A-Team character and leader George 'Hannibal' Smith, played in the 1980s TV series by the late George Peppard. 

Rowling is believed to have bought the superyacht in 2023, renaming it Samsara after it was previously completed in 2015 with the title Infinity before later being called Cloud 9.

'Samsara' is a Sanskrit word that translates as 'wandering' and is also used as a reference to death and rebirth in the ancient Indian tradition of karma.

The boat is 88.5 metres long, can accommodate 12 guests and a crew of 26, while also featuring a 5m circular pool, a beach club and a 'state of the art' cinema. 

Rowling also hit back at suggestions she was smoking a 'blunt', associated with cannabis use, in the picture she shared.

She posted: 'To those celebrating the fact that I'm smoking a blunt: it's a cigar. Even if it decided to identify as a blunt for the purposes of this celebration, it would remain objectively, provably and demonstratively a cigar.' 

She also told in replies how the photo was taken by one of her daughters and the drink she was sipping was an 'Old Fashioned' cocktail.

Earlier in the evening, Rowling had shared a photo on X of what appeared to be two glasses of prosecco under a sunny canopy, as she toasted the decision with her husband Neil Murray. 

Alongside the image, she wrote: 'We toasted you @ForWomenScot. Neil says it’s TERF VE Day [laughing emoji] #SupremeCourt #WomensRights.'

The term 'TERF' is used to describe people whose views on gender identity are seen as hostile towards transgender people.

The case centred on whether somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be protected from discrimination as a woman under the Equality Act.

The Scottish government had argued that such people were entitled to sex-based protections, meaning a transgender person with a GRC certificate identifying them as female would count towards women's quota - but campaign group For Women Scotland claimed they only applied to people born female.