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Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea fail to see eye-to-eye on transgender identity issue in awkward interview

The former first lady and her writer-philanthropist daughter were asked about identifying a person with beard and penis as a woman, at a recent interview. While the junior Clinton readily said "yes", her mother, a former secretary of state, found it less convincing.

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea have little disagreement when it comes to judging President Donald Trump. The duo, who has been appearing on interviews to speak about their new jointly-written book ‘The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience’ condemned Trump in the harshest of language in the wake of the recent impeachment inquiry launched against him.

But when it comes to transgender identity, the two have found a little ground to share. Hillary and Chelsea appeared in an interview with The Sunday Times, UK, where they failed to arrive at a consensus on whether a person with a beard and penis could be identified as a woman.

While the 39-year-old Chelsea felt there was no problem in doing so, her 71-year-old mother was less sure about it, according to Decca Aitkenhead who was interviewing them. Hillary though conceded that it was a “very big generational discussion” as she was not familiar with something like that during her years of growing up. 

'I'm just learning about this', says 71-year-old Hillary

“Err. I’m just learning about this. It’s a very big generational discussion, because this is not something I grew up with or ever saw. It’s going to take a lot more time and effort to understand what it means to be defining yourself differently,” Hillary said while explaining her position.

The book authored by the two Clintons, features Danica Roem, the first trans-woman to get elected to a state legislature (Virginia) and it made the issue of transgender identity more relevant.

Aitkenhead recounted her interview with Hillary saying she told her that many British feminists of her generation are uncomfortable with the idea that a “lesbian who doesn’t want to sleep with someone who has a penis is transphobic". While Hillary agreed, Chelsea was less conforming.

Hillary, also a former first lady (1993-2001), also agreed that many women of her generation do not feel at eas with biological males being allowed to use the same bathroom as them, Chelsea’s “furious glare” at the journalist suggested that she might have a different take.

On the question of whether children should be allowed to play on sports teams that match their gender identities, Chelsea Clinton responded in the affirmative but Hillary said one needs to be sensitive to the situation that she called “difficult”.