Writer and broadcaster Caroline Farrow has been investigated by police for criticising underage ‘sex change’ surgery on Twitter.
The incident followed a 2018 debate between Farrow and Susie Green, head of trans charity Mermaids, on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Green now says she has dropped the complaint against Mrs Farrow, but Surrey Police has not yet stopped the investigation.
Formal complaint
Farrow, a Roman Catholic, said on the programme that boys identifying as female should not be allowed to share tents with girls.
The debate continued on social media, and Susie Green lodged a formal complaint with Surrey Police.
Mermaids CEO Susie Green evaded UK restrictions when she took her 16-year-old son to Thailand for a full sex-change operation. In the UK, sex-reassignment surgery is limited to over-18s.
Mrs Farrow tweeted that while Susie Green might want to give her own child “illegal medication and drastic surgery”, she shouldn’t “impose it on other vulnerable kids as best practice”.
Threats
The police contacted Mrs Farrow earlier this week, but she refused to be cowed, writing “you cannot change the sex into which you were born”.
She also noted that threats to her family as a result of the row are not being investigated.
Green told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme she was withdrawing the complaint to deny Mrs Farrow a platform to ‘spread misinformation’.
‘Hurt feelings’
Criminologist Dr David Green said: “This appears to be a case of hurt feelings.”
He added: “The police should have understood that, but they are so concerned with polishing their image and making themselves look good with pressure groups that they have forgotten justice.”
Susie Green has previously sought police action over remarks she objected to.
Online comments
Last year, West Yorkshire Police interviewed woman’s rights campaigner, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, over online comments, following a complaint from Green. That case was eventually closed with no further action.
However, The Telegraph revealed that she is now the subject of a second police investigation by the Wiltshire force.
Keen-Minshull said she was still waiting to hear whether she would be charged over the remarks.
Apology
Last month, a 74-year-old woman received an apology from Suffolk Police after she was questioned over online comments about transgenderism.
Suffolk Police probed Margaret Nelson about statements pointing out the biological distinctions between the sexes.
The force later apologised, and accepted it had made a misjudgement.