Bette Midler is addressing one of her tweets about women’s rights that many deemed as “transphobic.”
It all began on Monday when the actress shared a tweet about women “being stripped of our rights,” which comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In her post, below, Midler, 76, wrote, “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 “Hocus Pocus” actress was subsequently hit with backlash over her tweet as some social media users accused her of being anti-trans, claiming her words were “exclusionary” against the transgender community.
In the wake of the criticism, Midler took to Twitter on Tuesday to clarify her comments. In a series of tweets, the Tony winner shared that her tweet “was a response” to a recent New York Times article titled “The Far Right and Far Left Agree on One Thing: Women Don’t Count,” and said she had “no intention” being exclusionary or transphobic.
“PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! My tweet about women was a response to this fascinating and well written piece in the NYT on July 3rd,” Midler began, posting a link to the article. “There was no intention of anything exclusionary or transphobic in what I said; it wasn’t about that.”
“It was about the same old s— women — ALL WOMEN — have been putting up with since the cavemen,” she added. “Even then, men got top billing.”
“But seriously, folks, if anyone who read that tweet thinks I have anything but love for any marginalized people, go to Wikipedia and type in my name,” Midler tweeted, adding that she’s “fought for marginalized people for as long as I can remember.”
She went on to note, “Still, if you want to dismiss my 60 years of proven love and concern over a tweet that accidentally angered the very people I have always supported and adored, so be it.”
The “Beaches” star ended her thread by pointing out that she’s ultimately in support of saving democracy “for ALL PEOPLE.”
“But the truth is, Democracy is slipping through our fingers!,” she wrote. “I’m all in on trying to save Democracy for ALL PEOPLE. We must unite, because, in case you haven’t been paying attention, divided we will definitely fall.”
See her thread in the tweets, below.
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