The co-hosts on a Fox News panel had a heated exchange about whether it would “hurt” to use someone’s preferred pronouns.
During a segment of “The Five” Thursday, liberal co-host Jessica Tarlov brought up attacks targeted against transgender people.
“It is important to treat people with dignity and respect when you are talking about these issues,” Tarlov began, adding, “And part of that is using the correct pronouns…”
Co-host Jeanine Pirro quickly interjected to say, “No.”
“Yes, it is. It doesn’t hurt you at all to call Lia Thomas ‘she,'” Tarlov shot back.
The panel briefly exploded with various co-hosts talking over each other to debate her point.
Guest Joey Jones said, “It makes me a liar.”
Watch the video below:
'The Five' lose their shit when liberal host Jessica Tarlov says it doesn't hurt them to refer to Lia Thomas as she/her.
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 27, 2023
"No!"
"It makes me a liar!"
"You have NO RIGHT to compel me to say ANYTHING!" pic.twitter.com/PkG83K3o8k
And co-host Greg Gutfeld chimed in, “Don’t compel my language. You have no right to compel me to say anything. That’s the beauty of this world.”
He later argued there was “a trend in Jessica’s defense… that when you make a criticism, you then connect it to attacks against these groups.”
“We should be able to criticize anything and not be blamed for a rise in attacks against trans,” he added.
Conservatives have argued against adopting preferred pronouns for transgender people.
In 2022, Thomas became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming competition in Division I.
During an episode of the Dear Schuyler podcast, the swimmer took issue with women who argue female sports should be limited to athletes who are biologically female.
“They’re like, ‘Oh, we respect Lia as a woman, as a trans woman or whatever. We respect her identity. We just don’t think it’s fair.’ You can’t really have that sort of half support where you’re like, ‘Oh, I respect her as a woman here, but not here,” Thomas said.
Thomas added, “They’re using the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs. I think a lot of people in that camp sort of carry an implicit bias against trans people but don’t want to, I guess, fully manifest or speak that out. And so they try to just play it off as this sort of half support.”