⁍ Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby used Twitter to defend lawmaker Rosie Duffield.
⁍ Duffield ‘liked’ a tweet by Piers Morgan questioning CNN’s phrase ‘individuals with a cervix’ in a story about cancer.
⁍ Row comes hot on the heels of a furore sparked in June when ‘Harry Potter’ author J.K. Rowling questioned a website headline about ‘people who menstruate
– The head of the world’s 85 million-strong Anglican community has come to the defense of a British lawmaker accused of transphobia over comments she made about cervical cancer. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby took to Twitter on Wednesday to defend Rosie Duffield, a member of Parliament for Canterbury, who was accused of transphobia after she “liked” a tweet by Piers Morgan in which he asked, “Do you mean women?” Duffield responded, “I’m a ‘transphobe’ for knowing that only women have a cervix…” and went on to say, “The implication that one cannot describe oneself as a woman without inviting a pile-on is beyond ridiculous now. Almost 52% of the UK population are women.” Welby came to Duffield’s defense, saying she was “a brilliant constituency MP for Canterbury as well as brave, honest, kind, and passionate for justice. She does not seek to demean others. To troll her is simply cruel and wrong.” Duffield’s Labour Party said using the term “individuals with a cervix” was “to include trans men, non-binary people, and intersex people that have a cervix but aren’t women,” per the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-lgbt-transgender-archbishop-t/britains-top-archbishop-enters-trans-rights-row-to-support-trolled-mp-idUSKCN2522D0