Daily Mail columnist questions whether lesbian writer should have had a child
In a column for the Daily Mail, Sarah Vine has attacked Jack Monroe, a lesbian writer who made comments about the Prime Minister’s relationship with his late son, questioning whether she should have had a child because she later came out as gay.
Vine, who is married to Government Chief Whip Michael Gove, wrote the column in response to a controversy caused by Monroe, when she tweeted yesterday using the #CameronMustGo hashtag, that David Cameron: “Uses stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric to legitimise selling our NHS to his friends.”
Commenting on Monroe’s relationship with her girlfriend Allegra McEvedy, and the fact that she had a son from a previous relationship, Vine appeared to question whether someone who is in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, and who later comes out as gay, should have a child.
She wrote: “To readers wondering how, as a lesbian, she got pregnant in the first place, her son was the result of a relationship with a man, shortly after which she realised she was attracted to women. Born Melissa, in 2012 she changed her name to Jack.
“No one forced her to have a child. Indeed, if she was in anyway uncertain of her sexual orientation, arguably she should have taken greater precautions. But it seems that Ms Monroe isn’t one for assuming responsibility for her actions,” she continued.
As well as her sexual orientation, Vine also passed comment on Monroe’s social background and the number of GCSEs she achieved.
She continues: “After an engagement to a policewoman, she now lives with her girlfriend, the chef and fellow Guardian writer Allegra McEvedy. So it’s all worked out for her in the end. But the question remains: whose choice was it to have a child in such unstable circumstances? Hers, and hers alone.”
Sainsburys moved to distance itself from Monroe, who was the face of a series of ad campaigns against poverty, and some reports claimed that Monroe’s contract with the supermarket would not be renewed.
Despite harsh criticism from many on social media and a number of Tory MPs , Monroe stood by her comments saying: “I stand by my comment the PM uses his experience.”
When speaking in favour of same-sex marriage, Michael Gove noted his own marriage to Vine, saying his own marriage to journalist Sarah Vine had been the greatest joy in his life and it was wrong to deny the same happiness to gay couples.
Update: Monroe has responded to Vine’s column, branding it: “Homophobic, transphobic, deadnaming, ignorant, and generally ghastly lies.”
