Bette Midler — who caused outrage on Sunday after tweeting about the trans community and the language used to describe them — is now firing back at critics of the tweet.
The tweet — which read: “WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name!”
“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,” the tweet continued.
the now-viral tweet has gained over 102,000 likes and nearly 21,000 comments, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“As a woman without a uterus, I support inclusive language to normalize that trans men need reproductive healthcare too, 100% It’s not trans people who are taking away my right to bodily [anatomy]. We’re all fighting the same fight,” said one user.
“Don’t do this, Bette. ‘Birthing people’ is language used to make sure we don’t exclude trans comrades. It doesn’t erase women at all,” pleaded another.
Several of the more extreme comments have compared the 76-year-old “Hocus Pocus” star to being a “TERF” — Trans exclusionary radical feminist — like “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling.
Midler’s tweet seemingly came in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark case Roe v. wade.
The outrage against the “First Wives Club” star comes as several states have begun restricting healthcare options to transgendered people.
Midler once again took to Twitter on Tuesday in an attempt to clarify each tweet.
Retweeting an opinion piece from the New York Times, the “Beaches” star wrote:
“PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! My tweet about women was a response to this fascinating and well-written piece in the NYT on July 3rd. There was no intention of anything exclusionary or transphobic in what I said; it wasn’t about that.”
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