Furnish tells Greer to ‘butt out’ in row over surrogacy

‘I’ll never understand what makes people like you publicly criticise something you know nothing about’

Craig Simpson

ELTON JOHN’S husband, David Furnish, has criticised Germaine Greer’s “misguiding rantings” after the feminist author accused the couple of seeking to create “all-male” families.

The musician and his long-term partner have raised two sons together, but Furnish is officially listed as the “mother” of the boys on their birth certificates.

Greer, author of The Female Eunuch, suggested the couple had taken the “title” of mother away from the women who gave birth to the children.

She questioned the creation of what she called “all-male” families by removal of the biological mother.

The feminist thinker had told The Oldie that: “Their two sons were born to two women, but David Furnish is the ‘mother’ on their birth certificates.

“How did we give this title up? Are we going to have a world where families can be all-male?”

The couple’s two sons, Zachary and Elijah, were born through the same anonymous surrogate in California.

Canadian filmmaker Furnish, 57, has responded to what he has termed her “rantings” in an open letter.

He wrote: “I’ll never understand what makes people like you publicly criticise something you clearly know nothing about. May I respectfully ask you to butt out and mind your own business?

“This is a private family matter, for which you have no right to publicly level criticism.”

Furnish explained to Greer that the woman who carried the pair’s two sons was a private citizen, and not seeking publicity “like yourself ”.

He said the decision to remove the name of the surrogate from the birth certificate was to prevent it being publicised, claiming it was a wise decision because the document was subsequently leaked to the press.