Rosie Duffield constituents and ‘older feminists’ urge MP to stop attacking trans people
Several residents in Labour MP Rosie Duffield’s constituency have written to the politician to urge her to stop attacking the trans community. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Several residents in Labour MP Rosie Duffield’s constituency have written to the politician to urge her to “support all her constituents” and stop attacking the trans community.
Days after Duffield was criticised for saying a trans woman who appeared on an ITV segment on rising water bills was “not a mother”, a group of nine self-described “older feminists” living in Duffield’s Canterbury constituency wrote to her, slamming her “transphobic” views.
The letter in the Whitstable Gazette, posted by the Twitter account CanterburyWithTheT, read: “As feminist constituents of Rosie Duffield MP, we want to object strongly to her frequent, gratuitous utterances about trans people, in particular transgender women.”
The group, who said they have been campaigning for women’s rights “as far back as the ‘70s”, criticised Duffield’s tweet about the woman who appeared on ITV, describing her views as “disingenuous” and “transphobic”.
The trans mother, Mika Minio-Paluello, was reportedly subjected to abuse and trolling after Duffield’s tweet, with anti-trans campaigners even reporting Minio-Paluello to children’s anti-cruelty charity NSPCC for breastfeeding her baby.
“Biological men cannot carry a baby or give birth … therefore this is not a mother,” Duffield wrote on Twitter about Minio-Paluello.
The Whitstable Gazette letter continued: “Trans people are currently one of the most vulnerable groups in society, being used as fodder for the ‘culture wars’, putting them at even greater risk.
“Duffield may claim that she supports trans people’s rights, yet clearly she doesn’t when she can’t even support the basic right of a trans woman out doing her shopping to go to the toilet of her choice.
“But whatever her views, she should stop making them public so that she can properly represent and support all her constituents.”
The Twitter page that shared the letter, CanterburyWithTheT, was set up by local resident Libby, who claimed she started the account “to show the local trans community that people in Canterbury and Whitstable do not agree with [Duffield’s] views”.
Libby told PinkNews: “She [Duffield] has been spreading misinformation about trans people and fuelling an inaccurate perception that trans people, especially trans women, are a threat.
“It feels important for local people to voice their opposition to this … and that the local LGBTQ+ community stands together and will not be divided by her rhetoric.”
Libby added that “it’s never felt more important for cis people to show their support”.
Duffield has previously been criticised for her views on the trans community, saying in October 2022 that she would rather be arrested than “call Eddie Izzard a woman”.
The MP has continuously denied that she is transphobic, and says that she supports the LGBTQ+ community.
PinkNews has contacted Rosie Duffield for comment.
