Macy Gray And Bette Midler Labeled ‘TERFs’ For Controversial Comments About Trans Women

Macy Gray at the Cross The Tracks Festival 2022

Source: Lorne Thomson / Getty

Macy Gray and Bette Midler are facing criticism for controversial comments they recently made about the trans female community.

While chatting with Piers Morgan on June 4, Gray argued that changing your sexual gender through surgery “doesn’t make you a woman.”

When the British talk show host asked the singer to explain what she considered a woman to be, Gray responded candidly:

“[A woman is] a human being with boobs. How about you start there? And a vagina!”

"What women go through is a completely unique experience and surgery or finding yourself doesn't change that."

Macy Gray explains why she thinks having gender reassignment doesn't truly change someone's sex.@MacyGraysLife | @piersmorgan | @TalkTV | #MacyGray pic.twitter.com/YT0wQSnYCN

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) July 4, 2022

The Grammy-award-nominee continued:

“I will say this and everybody’s gonna hate me but — as a woman — just because you go change your parts, it doesn’t make you a woman, sorry. I know that for a fact you want me to call you a ‘her,’ I will because that’s what you want but that doesn’t make you a woman just because I call you a ‘her’ and just because you got surgery.”

Piers then pointed to the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling’s Twitter post from 2020, where she appeared to take issue with an op-ed piece calling women “people who menstruate.” Some fans slammed the “Harry Potter” author for being transphobic, but Gray defended Rowling’s opposition to the phrase.

“I don’t think you should be called transphobic just because you don’t agree. There is a lot of judgment and throwing stones at people for just saying what it is,” Gray argued.

“A woman goes through a completely unique experience and surgery and finding yourself doesn’t change that. Being a little girl is a whole epic book, you know? You can’t have that just because you want to be a woman.”

‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?

Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020

“We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name!” tweeted Midler. “They don’t call us ‘women’ anymore; they call us ‘birthing people’ or ‘menstruators’, and even ‘people with vaginas’! Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!”

Fans and detractors on social media are now calling the famous celebs TERFS online. A terf is a feminist who excludes the rights of transgender women from their advocacy of women’s rights.

Journalist Ernest Owens told his following to “unfollow and un-support ” Midler and Gray.

SAD NEWS: Macy Gray & Bette Midler have come out as TERFs.

Unfollow, un-support, and unsubscribe.

— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) July 4, 2022

While one user argued that the stars were “dividing” the LGBTQ+ community with their sensitive comments.

Being pro-gay =/= being pro-trans.

A lot of the transphobia we experience is from people who call themselves allies or “pro-gay”. We are seeing this with Macy Gray and Bette Midler.

They are dividing our LGBTQ+ community, and they won’t win. We stand together.

— Lucy (@LucyAndStitch89) July 5, 2022

Some fans praised the entertainers for telling the “truth.”

I’m not an ignorant misogynist so I have just followed, supported and subscribed.

More power to Macy Gray & Bette Midler. Truth is not ‘phobic 😘 https://t.co/GX9wXC0WuZ

— Thought Policeman (@Thought_Po) July 5, 2022

What do you think about Macy Gray and Bette Midler’s controversial remarks? Tell us down below!