U.S. Representative Seth Moulton of Salem tells GBH News that steps taken by Donald Trump early in his second presidential term prove Democrats should heed Moulton’s call to be less doctrinaire on issues involving transgender identity.
“Among the many people he attacked was transgender Americans,” Moulton told GBH News after Trump’s inaugural address, in which the president said it would now be U.S. policy that there are only two genders. “And this is why I’ve been pushing the Democratic Party to actually stop denying that this is an issue, and that we have to have a response.
“We’ve got to be willing to have tough conversations about these issues so that we have a more reasonable approach than the Republicans,” Moulton said. “Because when we have nothing, we refuse to even debate these issues, Trump succeeds at pushing his hateful agenda. And that’s exactly what we heard when he attacked transgender Americans in this inaugural address.”
Moulton made national headlines after Donald Trump’s presidential win when he suggested that the Democratic Party’s approach to transgender issues may have contributed to its defeat.
“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton told the New York Times in November. “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.”
Moulton’s comments sparked a sharp and sustained backlash , but Moulton stood by them — arguing , in part, that Democratic intransigence around trans issues was ultimately paving the way for Republican attacks on trans people themselves.
The executive order Trump referenced in his speech and subsequently signed — “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” — does not actually state that there are only two genders.
Among other things, though, it says that the U.S. government recognizes two sexes, male and female. It condemns “gender ideology” for “permitting the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa.” And it states that federal agencies and employees “shall enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.”
After the issuance of Trump’s executive order, GBH News asked Moulton what message he thinks Democrats should be putting out instead when it comes to sex, gender, and transgender identity. His response, provided via email, follows in full:
“What the Trump administration is doing with this executive order is directly denying the right of trans people to exist, as a matter of federal policy.
We knew this was coming, and yet Democrats have refused to even discuss contentious issues like transgender people in gender-specific or single-sex spaces and, as a result, we have no response other than outrage, which will get us nowhere.
Now the good news is that some brave Democrats, including several leaders in the LGBTQ+ community, have broken the mold and have reached out to start having these discussions, at least in private. One of the ideas that has emerged from many transgender Americans themselves is proposing legislation that would couple basic civil rights with reasonable restrictions on transgender women in women’s sports. So why don’t we propose this, win some thoughtful, moderate Republicans to our side, and counter Trump’s hate with legal protections? The reason is that many in our party will eat our own for failing to meet their self-proscribed ideological purity test on the issue. Even now, interest groups are continuing to take the hardest possible line at the expense of coming to any sort of consensus that could actually protect people’s rights.
This is exactly the point I made after the election when I said something that 80% of America agrees with yet received precisely the backlash I predicted.”
In a statement emailed to GBH News, Jeremy Comeau, the president of the National Federation of Stonewall Democrats, called Moulton’s interpretation of Trump’s early actions and their implications for Democrats “deeply disappointing.”
“By suggesting that Democrats need to embrace ‘reasonable restrictions’ on trans rights to counter Republican attacks, he’s legitimizing harmful narratives that dehumanize transgender people,” Comeau said. “It’s frustrating to hear this kind of framing, which disregards the lived experiences of trans Americans and gives oxygen to the same rhetoric used to justify discrimination.
“Protecting civil rights isn’t about making concessions to those who want to strip them away — it’s about standing up for what’s right, unapologetically,” Comeau added. “Our party’s job is to lead with compassion and courage, not to adopt Republican talking points that marginalize vulnerable communities.”
Comeau also said Moulton has “ignored opportunities” to engage with groups like the National Federation of Stonewall Democrats, and suggested that Moulton reconsider his membership in the Congressional Equality Caucus “until he reflects on why his deeply troubling words have affected so many LGBTQ+ people — words he has yet to apologize for.”
Earlier this month, Moulton voted against a Republican-backed bill that would prohibit trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, describing the measure as too extreme.
