A devout Catholic woman says she is being investigated by police after using the wrong pronoun on Twitter to describe a transgender woman.
Caroline Farrow, 44, has been told by Surrey Police that they want to conduct a “taped interview under caution” after receiving reports that she had made transphobic comments online.
The journalist and Catholic campaigner “is being investigated under the Malicious Communications Act, and although the interview would be voluntary, she claims she could face arrest if she does not attend”, says The London Evening Standard.
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The row dates back to September, when Farrow appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain alongside transgender rights campaigner Susie Green, whose daughter Jackie was born Jack.
Following a heated on-air debate over the Girl Guides’ decision to accept children who have changed gender, Farrow “allegedly took to Twitter to continue the spat, and during the exchange was accused of referring to Green’s transgender daughter using the wrong pronoun”, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Farrow now says she can no longer remember the offending tweets, but explained: “I probably said ‘he’ or ‘son’ or something.”
In a series of messages this week, she added: “I have pointed out to the police that I am a Catholic journalist [and] commentator and it is my religious belief that a person cannot change sex.”
She continued: “I now need to inform my children that mummy is in trouble with the police because there was this girl, who was born in a boy’s body, whom I might have inadvertently referred to as a boy.”
But Green, who made the original complaint to police, insists the alleged slip was deliberate, adding that Farrow’s comments were “distressing and spiteful”.
Confirming that an inquiry had been launched, a spokesperson for Surrey Police said: “We received an allegation on 15 October 2018 in relation to a number of tweets which were posted in October 2018. A thorough investigation is being carried out to establish whether any criminal offences have taken place.
“A 44-year-old woman has been asked to attend a voluntary interview in relation to the allegation as part of our ongoing investigation.”
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