With Hocus Pocus 2 on the way, star Bette Midler has been on everyone’s minds (along with her co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy.) With that said, Bette Midler has now been the topic of conversation for a completely different reason. It turns out that some of the star’s comments on Twitters have upset the LGBTQ community. Now fans are claiming Bette Midler is transphobic over her comments.
The allegations began after Bette Midler took the opportunity to discuss women’s rights. Although many others took the time to do that after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it was Bette Midler’s discussion that seemed to focus on less popular topics.
In particular, Bette Midler targeted the way people use terminology such as “birthing people” or “menstruators.”
Here’s what she 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!”
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!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 4, 2022
As one might imagine, this has the LGBTQ community rather upset. Although Bette Midler insists she stands for women and women’s rights, including abortion access, followers took note of how she targeted terminology most of all. Because terms like “birthing people” or “menstruators” is more inclusive for the transgender and nonbinary communities, they’ve become much more popular to use, and it seems like Bette Midler is against that.
As such, she’s been labeled transphobic. The post garnered quite a bit of attention and Bette Midler made additional statements in defense of what she said.
“PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! My tweet about women was a response to this fascinating and well written piece in the NYT on July 3rd. tinyurl.com/2p9dw2th. There was no intention of anything exclusionary or transphobic in what I said; it wasn’t about that.
It was about the same old shit women – ALL WOMEN – have been putting up with since the cavemen. 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.
I’ve fought for marginalized people for as long as I can remember. 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.”
It was about the same old shit women – ALL WOMEN – have been putting up with since the cavemen. 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.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 5, 2022
I have always supported and adored, so be it.
But the truth is, Democracy is slipping through our fingers! 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.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 5, 2022
This isn’t the first time that Bette Midler has been called transphobic on social media – and she’s even been called “Islamophobic” just days ago. As of this writing, however, she hasn’t made any further statements on the matter. With the arrival of Hocus Pocus 2 only a few months away, it’ll be interesting to see how this situation is handled if at all. As stated, these aren’t the first of such allegations to be made against Midler.