Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

I stand with Macy Gray

The singer's comments are not transphobic

Macy Gray (Credit: Getty images)

There’s a new heretic in town. It’s the great Macy Gray. Ms Gray has uttered that most blasphemous of beliefs – that a man can never become a woman, even if he has his bits lopped off. Cue the pointing of fingers and howls of ‘BIGOT!’. If this were the 15th century this is the point at which Ms Gray would be marched off to the stake.

It was on Piers Morgan’s Talk TV show that Gray came out as someone who understands biology – a dangerous thing to do in the 21st century. In her soulful, plain-speaking style she said: 

‘Just because you go change your parts doesn’t make you a woman.’ 

For me the most sublime moment was when Gray did a chopping motion with her hand as she said ‘change your parts’. This is clearly someone who will brook no nonsense.

Like many other women who have questioned the idea that someone born with a penis and testicles can become a woman, Gray has been mauled online

‘You feel that?’, Morgan asked. ‘I know that for a fact’, Gray clarified, sending a clear signal to any members of the mob who may have been watching and warming up their thumbs for a good ol’ cancellation on Twitter. This is the truth, Gray was essentially saying, whether you like it or not.

The cancellation has come nonetheless. Like many other women who have questioned the idea that someone born with a penis and testicles can become a woman – whether by hormonal intervention or simply through self-ID – Gray has been mauled online. TERF, bigot, hater – all the usual slurs have been hurled her way. ‘She’s dead to me now’, some have claimed, as if she murdered someone or came out as a lover of Hitler.

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