Published
Tue, Aug 29, 2023, 18:55
- The Irish singer-songwriter was criticised for comments made last week via her private Facebook account.
Róisín Murphy has released a statement addressing controversial comments she made regarding puberty blockers and young trans people.
Early last week, tweets surfaced of comments the Irish singer-songwriter had made on her private Facebook account. She described puberty blockers—which trans and gender-diverse young people take to delay the changes of puberty—as "absolutely desolate," suggesting that they'll have big pharmaceutical companies "laughing all the way to the bank." She also insinuated that young trans people were "little mixed up kids" that "need to be protected."
According to LGBTQIA+ non-profit GLAAD, research shows that puberty blockers reduce suicidal ideation in a vast majority of trans youth who undergo the treatment, and also notes that puberty blockers have been used safely "for decades" on cisgender children who experience early puberty.
In the same Facebook thread, Murphy also asked that people not call her a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) and to stop "using that word against women." TERF is a term used to describe those whose idea of feminism purposefully excludes trans women or non-binary people, and those who don't consider trans women to be women.
Following a surge of criticism from large sections of the trans community over the past week, Murphy released a statement today, August 29th, via Twitter. She apologised "for being the reason for this eruption of damaging and potentially dangerous social media fire and brimstone."
She added: "For those of you who are leaving me, or have already left, I understand, I really do, but please know I have loved every one of you. I have always been so proud of my audience and understood the privilege of performing for you, all through the years."
Read Murphy's statement in full.