Brittany Aldean Defends Gender Take Against Cassadee Pope, Maren Morris

Brittany Aldean is doubling down on a hot take that some are calling transphobic -- publicly hitting back at a couple fellow country contemporaries who are outraged.

BA -- who's Jason Aldean's wife -- screen-grabbed responses to an IG post of hers from a few days ago, when singers Cassadee Pope and Maren Morris each criticized Brittany for thanking her parents for not deeming her a boy when she was young.

In the OG post, Brittany is showing herself getting dolled up -- with a caption that reads, "I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life."

CP took to social media and replied ... "You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging. But instead here we are, hearing someone compare their “tomboy phase” to someone wanting to transition. Real nice."

MM chimed in too, commenting under Cassadee's tweet ... "It's so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it. Insurrection Barbie." Morris seems to be referring to the fact that the Aldeans have spoken out strongly about Jan. 6.

Well, Brittany caught wind of it all -- backlash beyond just Cassadde and Maren -- but instead of folding ... she stuck to her guns on this one. She issued a lengthy statement, which basically says she thinks it's wrong to put kids on hormone blockers and such.

She says it's actually "evil" and presented under the guise of healthcare. Basically, she doesn't think minors should be put through that -- not until they're at least 18 anyway.