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Seth Moulton defends his transgender comments after protests at his Salem office
“We cannot protect trans rights and so many other things if we don’t start winning elections. You can't win the majority if you ignore their views," the congressman said.
Rep. Seth Moulton has doubled down on his comments about transgender issues after a group of local activists protested over the weekend outside his Salem office.
Moulton, who represents much of the North Shore, has been under fire since last week, when his comments about transgender youth were highlighted in a New York Times article about reactions to Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss in the presidential election.
“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton said in the piece titled “Devastated Democrats Play the Blame Game, and Stare at a Dark Future” published Thursday.
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“I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that,” he continued.
Moulton, who has represented Massachusetts’s 6th congressional district since 2015, took to Facebook on Sunday to defend his comments.
He said three types of people have contacted him about his statements: people who agree with him, people who reach out with “thoughtful, constructive feedback,” and people who make “no effort to engage constructively.”
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“Our party has no problem preaching down to those we disagree with, but a serious problem having real, honest conversations about tough issues,” he wrote on Facebook. “Unfortunately, the backlash has only served to reinforce my original point.”
Moulton reiterated to GBH News last week that he thinks the Democrats are “out of touch with Americans.”
“I mean, here we are accusing Republicans of being weird and we’re the ones who are suddenly requiring people to put pronouns in their email signatures,” he told GBH. “I mean, that’s kind of weird, to be honest.”
Protest: ‘Eat your local fascist and protect your local queer witch’
Witch City Punks Against Hate organized a protest outside Moulton’s office in downtown Salem on Front Street Saturday afternoon, according to co-organizer Coyote Sanchez, who lives in Salem. The Boston Globe reported on more protests at his office on Friday.
Sanchez, 26, told Boston.com that the protest of about 30 people included signs and chants like “Seth Moulton is a clown / It’s time for him to leave town.” Other chants were “eat your local fascists and protect your local queer witch,” and “Seth Moulton’s got to go.”
“We don’t want to be neighbors with him anymore,” Sanchez said. “We, as a movement, don’t stand by these statements. We don’t condone them. We don’t agree with them. I know Mayor (Dominick) Pangallo said himself that he doesn’t resonate with these statements.” (Salem officials denounced Moulton’s statements on Friday.)
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Sanchez said that Moulton is blaming trans youth for losing the election and that his comments are willfully ignorant and can incite violence against trans people.
“How are you supposed to take that when a congressman from your state, someone who’s elected to represent you, is throwing you under the bus for losing the election?” Sanchez said. “He’s very aware of the weight of the words that he says. He just doesn’t want to be held accountable for it, and he doesn’t like harsh criticism, but I feel like we need harsh criticism when we are coming against people like Donald Trump in office.”
Moulton said on Facebook that the Democrats seem “out of touch on a variety of cultural and economic issues,” which contributes to losing elections.
“We cannot protect trans rights and so many other things if we don’t start winning elections. You can’t win the majority if you ignore their views,” Moulton wrote. “So let’s stop canceling and start having these important conversations. I am confident we will remain the party that defends all Americans’ freedoms, but we need to win to do so effectively.”
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