Singer Macy Gray has crashed into the transgender debate, telling Piers Morgan that being a woman requires being born with “boobs” and a “vagina.”
“Just because you go change your parts doesn’t make you a woman,” the crooner told Morgan on his TalkTV program.
The host observed that public figures are often wary of being candid on the controversial issue due to fear of backlash.
Gray, 54, agreed, defining a woman as a “human being with boobs.”
“How about you start there,” she said. “And have a vagina.”
The singer clarified that she backs transgender rights — but drew the line at athletic competitions.
“If you want me to call you a ‘her,’ I will,” she said. “Because that’s what you want but that doesn’t make you a woman just because I call you a ‘her’ and just because you got a surgery.”
She also threw her support behind author J.K. Rowling, who has been criticized for her outspoken views on transgender matters.
“I don’t think you should be called transphobic just because you don’t agree…,” she said. “There is a lot of judgment and throwing stones at people for just saying what it is. Do you know what I mean?”
Being female, Gray said, requires more than medical procedures.
“A woman goes through a completely unique experience and surgery and finding oneself doesn’t change that,” she said. “Being a little girl is a whole epic book, you know? You can’t have that just because you want to be a woman.”