Fury as UN charity picks transgender model as its ‘UK champion’
WOMEN’S rights groups have blasted a charity for selecting a transgender model as its “UK champion”.
UN Women UK wants Munroe Bergdorf to empower and enhance women and girls’ lives worldwide.
But 17 organisations — including Fair Play for Women, Sex Matters and Transgender Trend — branded Bergdorf “unsuitable” and wrote to the charity voicing their concerns.
They also penned a statement pointing to the 36-year-old’s historic “homophobic and racist” posts online.
The group said: “We wish to register our dismay and disappointment at the appointment of . . . Munroe Bergdorf as a UN Women UK champion.
“Munroe Bergdorf is unsuitable in every regard.
“Munroe Bergdorf’s well-publicised activism is not pro-women.
“This person has objected to women making references to our female bodies.”
Some posts by Bergdorf led to Childline dropping her as an ambassador in 2019.
She was also dropped by beauty brand L’Oréal in 2017 after saying she did not “have energy to talk about the racial violence of white people”.
Bergdorf clarified she was talking about “all white people” adding “their entire existence is drenched in racism”.
In 2010, she labelled a pal as a “hairy barren lesbian” prompting fury from LGBTQ+ groups.
Bergdorf had previously been enlisted as part of UN Women’s Draw a Line campaign aimed at ending violence against women.
She said her new honour was a responsibility she did not take lightly, adding: “Working with the UN has been an ambition and dream of mine since I started working in the activism space over a decade ago.”
“I will use this role to further advocate for the progress, safety, inclusion and empowerment of all women and girls, of all communities and identities.
“I will continue to draw attention to the systemic and social impact of misogyny, transphobia and gender-based inequality within the UK — in order to help provide insight that contributes to tracking and countering it.”