Mermaids touts itself as one the United Kingdom's "leading LGBTQ+ charities," committed to "supporting transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children." Over the last three weeks, the taxpayer-subsidized group has faced intense scrutiny. In late September, it was condemned for giving out so-called "breast binders" to children against their parents' wishes. This week, a trustee of the group quit after it was revealed he had both advocated for destigmatizing pedophilia and spoke at a conference hosted by a group that serves pedophiles.

The perversions linked to the so-called charity drew the ire of British author J.K. Rowling, author of the "Harry Potter" series and notable critic of transsexual extremism, misogyny, and those who reject the reality of biological sex.

Responding to a tweet that said Mermaids was on its way to "be the new Savile" — a reference to the notorious pedophile and rapist Jimmy Savile — Rowling noted how the group's influence would not have been possible "without the money and public support of certain corporations and celebrities, who eagerly boosted them even though the red flags have been there for years."

\u201cWe've now learned that Mermaids appointed a paedophilia apologist as Trustee and that their online moderator encouraged kids to move onto a platform notorious for sexual exploitation. This is a charity that's achieved unprecedented influence in the UK. 2/5\u201d

— J.K. Rowling (@J.K. Rowling) 1664903808

Extra to a host of big corporate sponsors like Starbucks, Mermaids has benefitted from donations from high-profile celebrities like Emma Watson, an actress who came to prominence in the "Harry Potter" movies.

\u201cI donate to @Mermaids_Gender and @mamacash. If you can, perhaps you\u2019ll feel inclined to do the same. \u2764\ufe0f\u201d

— Emma Watson (@Emma Watson) 1591823706

Rowling suggested that "Mermaids' fingers were all over the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic debacle."

The Tavistock clinic, opened in 1989, is shutting down this year. It was accused of hurriedly foisting puberty-blocking drugs onto children, which reportedly cause sterility and deformities. One former patient, Keira Bell, took Tavistock to court, claiming that the clinic didn't challenge her ahead of prescribing her sterilizing medications when she was a minor.

\u201cThey've been allowed into classrooms, trained police and had unprecedented influence over health policy, even though by their own admission they aren't a medical charity. We've also found out they're sending devices to flatten breasts to underage girls w/o parental consent. 4/5\u201d

— J.K. Rowling (@J.K. Rowling) 1664903808

Rowling raised the matter of Mermaids sending so-called "chest binders" to children without their parents' consent.

Chest binders are pieces of compression clothing that flatten a woman's chest to make her more "male-presenting." They reportedly can cause breathing difficulties, chronic back pain, headaches, skin infections, broken ribs, and malformations of the spine. 97% of those who use them suffer health problems as a result.

The Telegraph reported late last month that Mermaids was sending "potentially dangerous chest-flattening devices to 13-year-olds against their parents' wishes." In one instance, Mermaids agreed to send an adult whom they believed was a 14-year-old girl a breast binder, despite her informing them that her mother would "not allow" it.

According to the Telegraph, Mermaids has been running a free "binder scheme" since 2019.

In addition to pushing these devices on children, the group allegedly told individuals whom they believed to be minors that sterilizing puberty-blocking drugs were safe and "totally reversible." A study published last month in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy indicated that such claims are far from being true.

Parents have suggested that Mermaids also convinced children they were transsexual and that hormones and mutilation might "cure" their issues.

Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder and director of Transgender Trend, a group that combats the mutilation of children, told the Telegraph that Mermaids "are giving out inaccurate and partial information and they are encouraging people to trust in what is a medical experiment."

When the Telegraph published its report revealing how Mermaids circumnavigated parents and contravened their wishes in efforts to mutilate their children, Rowling welcomed greater scrutiny of the organization.

On September 29, it was announced that the U.K.'s Charity Commission would be investigating Mermaids. A spokesman from the commission stated, "Concerns have been raised with us about Mermaids' approach to safeguarding young people. We have opened a regulatory compliance case and have written to the trustees. We now wait their reply."

One of Mermaids' trustees from whom the commission wanted to hear, Dr. Jacob Breslow, resigned days later, on October 3, after it was revealed he had previously given a presentation at an event hosted by B4U-ACT, a group that promotes services and resources for pedophiles.

In his presentation and in its corresponding paper, Breslow employed the phrase "minor attracted persons" instead of "pedophile" to when referring to degenerates who are sexually attracted to children.

According to Breslow, "Allowing for a form of non-diagnosable minor attraction is exciting. ... This understanding may displace the stigma, fear and objection that is naturalised as being attached to minor-attracted persons and may alter the terms by which non-normative sexualities are known."

Breslow, who had been a trustee of the children-focused group Mermaids up until this week, also stated, "Many tend to begin with the linkage of paedophilic desire to harmful and abusive relationships and acts ... rather than questioning, normative gendered and sexual intelligibility."

Rowling wrote that an individual who had been arguing for the destigmatization of pedophilia, never recanted those beliefs, and "then wheedled" his way onto the board of a charity for vulnerable kids should be fired.

She went onto tweet that either Mermaids did not do due diligence or "they were fine with [Breslow's] views."

\u201cWhen you appoint a trustee to a children's charity, you do due diligence. A simple google search would have enabled Mermaids to read Breslow's own words. Either they did literally no checking, or they were fine with his views. Either way, it's a catastrophic safeguarding failure.\u201d

— J.K. Rowling (@J.K. Rowling) 1664906351

India Willoughby, Britain's first man to read the news while claiming to be a woman on Channel 5, suggested that someone "needs to take legal action against JK Rowling."

Rowling embraced Willoughby's initiative, writing, "India, I swear to God, if you want to start a petition for Mermaids to take me on in court, the first signature will be mine."

\u201cIndia, I swear to God, if you want to start a petition for Mermaids to take me on in court, the first signature will be mine.\u201d

— J.K. Rowling (@J.K. Rowling) 1664984168

Rowling highlighted that some of her leftist critics were apparently less concerned that a trustee for a so-called trans charity for children "wrote sympathetically about orgasming 'on or with' a child ... but that the TERFs might 'twist' his appointment."

\u201cPerfect example. The problem isn't that a man who wrote sympathetically about orgasming 'on or with' a child was made trustee of a children's charity, but that the TERFs might 'twist' his appointment. Then straight back to the self-soothing mantras, with a glow of inner virtue.\u201d

— J.K. Rowling (@J.K. Rowling) 1664982727

In light of this recent controversy, Mermaids has shut down its hotline, citing "intolerable abuse."

\u201cDue to intolerable abuse, we have made the decision to close the helpline and webchat services for the rest of today and tomorrow. Next week, to enable us to take all volunteers off the rota, we will reduce hours to 9am to 6pm only.\u201d

— Mermaids (@Mermaids) 1665061663